Bane of His Existence
by Genevieve Kelly
Summary: Detective Rogers finally begins to sense something isn't right about Eloise Gardener and both Regina and Gold do their best to protect him against the witch. In the backstory, Gold and Alice come to the rebel camp to talk Hook into going on a journey that might lead them to a special ingredient that may help cure him of the poison over his heart. Takes place after midseason finale.
1. Chapter 1

Bane of His Existence

Chapter One

Detective Rogers sat quietly at his desk the day after Lucy had been admitted into the hospital for the yet unknown ailment that plagued her, as he worked on the piled up paperwork he had fallen behind on over the last several weeks on account of his search for the missing woman who had taken up most of his time, especially in the hours he was off duty. A few of the men he used to work under while he was still an officer commented on how exhausted he looked and one of them encouraged him to take some time off to catch up on his sleep. However, the newly ordained detective shrugged off their concern whether the men were genuine or not. The truth was, Rogers preferred to work. It helped to keep his mind off of the things still troubling him about this particular cold case, even if it was finally solved at last.

Rogers couldn't help but feel something was off. However, he wasn't sure if it was because Weaver had warned him a few days back that Eloise Gardener wasn't who he was really looking for, or if it was because he felt so drawn to this young woman for some unknown reason that didn't make sense to him any longer. He knew it couldn't just be his guilt that plagued him because he had been drinking the night he believed Eloise had disappeared, but it was the only explanation he had. Unfortunately, the more he thought about it, the more confused Rogers felt.

It was nearly time for the detective to get off duty for the day, around four o'clock that afternoon, after which he planned on going to check in on the young girl, as well as Henry and Jacinda who had been maintaining a constant vigil over her, before simply returning to the station to continue on with the paperwork in his off hours. However, before he thought any more on doing so, he looked up from the papers surrounding him and saw Eloise as she entered the precinct and walked through the bullpen in search for her rescuer.

Rogers immediately stood and nervously called out to her, "Eloise… Are you alright?"

She smiled at him as she approached him and then answered, "Good day, Detective Rogers. Yes, I'm doing much better today. Thank you. I'm sorry if I'm disrupting you in your work. I can see that you're very busy. Perhaps I should come at another time."

"No, please… stay," he responded quietly as he motioned for her to have a seat after quickly moving a chair from behind one of the other desks in front of his own so she could. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Thank you, but I was actually hoping I could speak with you someplace that is a little more private than here at your precinct," the woman whose true, secret identity was that of a witch who called herself Mother Gothel replied. "If that is all right with you, of course. I don't wish to take up much of your time, nor to ask you a favor again so soon after rescuing me from that horrible woman. It's just that I have something of grave importance I need help with and I thought if anyone could help me, it would be you."

The detective nodded as he then moved to walk her out and answered, "Of course. We could go for a walk if you'd like. Down by the river, in the park. The waters… they're soothing to me. Perhaps they can be the same for you as well."

Seeing a little of the pirate she knew him to be before the dark curse that plagued Hyperion Heights was cast, her eyes suddenly grew cold as he walked a little ahead of her until he turned to face her once more while they continued to walk, then she uttered, "Perhaps they can be."

"So, what is it you wish to talk with me about?" Rogers questioned. "Are you certain you're alright?"

"I'm doing about as well as can be expected after being held someone's prisoner for so many years," Eloise responded softly as she glanced over at him, then turned her eyes back down on the path in front of her feet. "Detective Rogers... when I was out living on the streets, I lived among other runaways, which I suppose you must already know. I went by Rain then, to keep those I ran away from, from finding me. At the time, I didn't think my parents loved me. They treated me like the black sheep of our family. Like I was a vile child. So I left and took to the streets instead believing I would be better off. If only I knew then how wrong I would be. I never would have been kidnapped, and I would have been able to see my parents one last time before they died some years ago. Forgive me, I didn't come here to talk about my own past. I've come because I have friends I knew and lived with at times while I lived as Rain. Friends whom I fear are in the same kind of danger that I was. They were like sisters to me. I was hoping you might be able to use your resources that you used to help you find me, to try to find them too. I realize I'm asking you a lot and that I have no right to do so. But I…"

He finally cut her off as he replied, "What you're asking is far more than I'm capable of doing on my own, Miss. Gardener. And when I looked for you, everyone told me I should give up on trying to find you any longer. They all stopped believing you'd ever be found again. I will do all I can. It's just that I'll have to speak with my partner, Detective Weaver. But it's only fair you should know he's skeptical of your true motives. I doubt he'll be willing to help me. And besides, he seems to think you have some friends who are dangerous. They're not… are they?"

As they arrived at the detective's usual park bench where he preferred to sit as he looked out over the river before them, Gothel slowly moved in closer to him until their faces were inches apart and then seductively she whispered, "They're no more dangerous than I am. And you don't see me as dangerous… do you, detective?"

Before he could even answer, the witch continued to lean in against him, then at last stood on her toes to kiss his lips for several seconds until Rogers suddenly pulled away upon getting the strange sense something was very wrong, even stronger than he had felt earlier before Eloise had walked into the precinct.

"Forgive me, love," he spoke nervously again. "I never should have given in. It's nothing you did, I assure you. It's just… I'm quite a bit older than you and you're…"

"I'm what?" she asked still with the provocative look in her eyes and in her smile while she continued to look up at him. "I can be whatever you wish for me to be, detective."

Rogers gently shook his head while he pulled her hands and arms away from him, then stepped back from her once again and answered, "No. No, no, no. Eloise, please… you're only feeling this way because you're grateful to me for rescuing you. I know that you don't truly want… this. You might think you do now, but it's not real. What you're feeling isn't real. And it'd be wrong of me to take advantage of you. I promise that I'll see what I can do for your friends. Just write down as much information about them that you can give me and then drop it all off on my desk at the precinct. But I think it'd be best if we didn't talk for awhile, at least until you come to see that I'm right. I'm sorry. I have to go. Goodbye."

Gothel just smiled smugly as the detective walked away with his back to her and then the witch muttered under breath, "You'll eventually come to see that you want me more than you know, detective. And even if you don't, it won't be long before I have you like I did before so many years ago."

Meanwhile, as she watched the interaction between Rogers and Eloise Gardener worryingly from a distance where she wouldn't be seen by either one of them, Tilly played with the chess piece she held in her hands, she didn't know represented the detective's true self. The white knight.

"Tell me, why is it that you feel so drawn to Detective Rogers?" Gold quietly asked the young woman as he suddenly appeared beside her, while he watched the confrontation between his partner and the witch himself from another distance away until he noticed Tilly doing the same, then walked up on her so they could talk. "Does he mean something to you?"

"You mean like, have I developed romantic feelings for him?" she questioned as she turned her head to stare at him strangely. "Heavens no. He's so much older than I am. That's gross."

Gold chuckled while they continued to watch the scene before them, then he stated, "Of course not. I simply mean I can't help but notice how close you've become, as friends. You've been spending much more time together and have grown closer than you were before our little incident where I winded up getting shot. Or is it you've come to see him more as perhaps… a father figure?"

Tilly turned her head to glance at the older detective again as she responded, "Detective Rogers has been very kind to me. For some reason, he seems to care about what I do with my life and is trying to help me get off the streets. I'm not so sure I want his help, but because he's been good to me, I… I suppose I just want to make sure he's alright too. The problem is, right now something in my gut is telling me that woman over there with him… is no good. That Eloise Gardener is dangerous and not at all who she says she is. Yet he seems completely unaware she's dangerous. Or he's afraid to see it. I can't tell him. He was so troubled by her disappearance and has come to be so relieved now that he's finally found her again despite our efforts to keep him from doing so. I can't do that to him again, especially without real proof this time. Learning she's only a phony preying on the good man he is… will crush him."

"Yet… if we don't do anything, I fear that more than just his feelings will become crushed," Weaver replied in counter of her argument over not to tell him the real truth about the woman whom they watched as she suddenly moved in closer to kiss Detective Rogers until he then pulled back and took a few steps away from her. "Like you, I sense that woman's dangerous too. If we do nothing, he could wind up getting hurt from more than just a broken heart. Perhaps you and I could help him, together."

"I'll think about it," the young woman said worryingly and then watched as her friend walked away from Eloise and finally turned her full attention on the detective standing in front of her. "In the meantime, I'll keep a close eye on Rogers on my own. I'm used to working alone you know. I'll help him if I can. Promise me you'll do the same? You will look after him, won't you?"

Gold simply nodded his response without saying a word to the young woman. Upon seeing the stoic look in his eyes that she had seen a number of times from him before, Tilly gave the other detective she's worked with up until she had gotten to know Rogers, a small smile and turned as she walked away from Weaver as well.


	2. Chapter 2

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Two

After he had left Eloise in the park, Detective Rogers went to the hospital to check in on Lucy, Henry, and Jacinda. Unfortunately, there was still no change in the child's mysterious condition and both Henry and Jacinda were feeling depleted of any of their usual strength and courage. Rogers didn't stay long thinking they might prefer to remain alone. Besides, Roni was also there at the time, along with a slightly older woman with long flowing red hair whom he didn't recognize. Someone who appeared to be new in Hyperion Heights, yet close to the bar owner who had also grown close to those staying there in the hospital.

When the detective left, he returned to the precinct as he expected to so he could work long into the night like he usually did. Two days later, Rogers walked past Roni's again carrying a few case files at his side, then stopped in front of the window upon seeing that the bar was open and walked inside, only he didn't see Roni behind the bar or anywhere else like he expected. Instead, the stranger to him whom he had seen with Roni the other day was there looking after the place for her.

Rogers walked in, then took a seat at one of the back corner tables where he, Roni, and Henry spent much of their time working together on trying to take down Victoria Belfrey and anyone else who worked against them in their efforts to bring peace back into the town. He laid the files down on the table and began to carefully read through them until the red haired woman walked over and stood above him, then cleared her throat before she started to speak.

"So… you must be Detective Rogers," she stated with a wide smile as she extended her hand to him by way of encouraging him to talk with her. "I'm Zel… Kelly. My name is really Zelena, but then most people call me Kelly. Long story, but perhaps one to be saved for another time. Roni's told me about you. Said you're a good detective, a good man."

"Thank you, but I'm not exactly feeling too sure about that lately," he responded in frustration as he wearily rubbed his fingers over the bridge of his nose, then stared down at the single photo of an unknown woman within one of the files opened in front of him. "Sorry, I shouldn't let my frustrations out on you. Could I get a large coffee please? Just black. On second thought, if you could bring over a few creams, I'd appreciate it."

Zelena looked down at him strangely as she asked, "Are you sure you wouldn't prefer a glass of rum? You don't strike me as the kind of guy to drink plain, boring old coffee even with a little bit of cream. You appear to be off duty, aren't you?"

The detective nodded and then replied, "I don't drink anymore. Doing so has only brought me trouble. The coffee would be much appreciated."

"I'll be right back," the good witch answered, then walked away to get the man whom she had become close friends with on account of their daughters finding love before the curse had made them forget one another, what it was he had asked for.

Once she was gone, Rogers continued to shuffle through the papers of one of the others files until his thoughts wandered off as it's often done, making completing his work over the last several weeks almost impossible. At least he was able to concentrate on one thought, as his mind fell back to a conversation he had with Henry the day he had found and rescued Eloise.

 _"_ _Hey," the writer uttered upon finding Detective Rogers sitting at one of the tables in the patio area, then walked over to stand above him. "Whatcha doing out here?"_

 _Rogers spoke frustratingly saying, "Some work._ _I, uh, had to get out of the, uh, office for a while."_

 _He looked up at Henry until he sat down as well and began to look over the strewn out paperwork on the table between them as the young man in his late twenties questioned, "Uh, is this the Eloise Gardener case?"_

 _"Yeah, it is," the detective responded quietly, staring down at the papers while Henry kept his eyes on his friend. "I feel like I'm so close I can almost touch it. It's just, I can't put the pieces together to find her."_

 _"Have you ever considered it's because she's… not around to find?" the younger man asked again with concern, knowing it wasn't something Rogers was ready yet to even consider._

 _As expected, Rogers immediately snapped back at him retorting, "Of course she bloody is."_

 _Henry quickly felt ashamed for asking as such and replied, "Okay. Okay. But how do you know?"_

 _"Ever since I started looking for this girl, I felt… I felt a connection," his friend then answered his friend while feeling more frustration rising up within him than before. "Like a bond. Look, if you spend enough time with a person, or even… or even the idea of a person, you get to know them. And, as crazy as it sounds, I feel like we're… family. If she were dead, I would know it."_

 _"There's someone I have to see," the detective suddenly added as he stood up and gathered together the papers so he could leave._

 _Henry stood with him and responded, "Well, hey, how about I, uh… tag along with you?"_

 _Rogers let out a heavy sigh, not feeling confident about having the man he had come to care about since they began working together helping him on the case that had become his own obsession, then the writer said again, "Come on. You shouldn't have to do this alone. Come on."_

 _"All right," the detective replied when he finally relented and together they left the bar to see if they could find Tilly._

His thoughts were finally interrupted when he suddenly felt a gentle hand touch his shoulder, and Rogers found himself looking up into Roni's eyes he could tell were clearly looking down on him with concern. However, when Rogers became aware of his true surroundings again, Roni released his shoulder and then took a seat at the table across from him.

"You had me a little worried for a moment there when you didn't respond to me right away," Regina stated out of concern for him, while Rogers then noticed the coffee he had asked Zelena for sitting on the table in front of him. "I even called out your name a few times. A penny for your thoughts? What's with these old files? I take it you've gotten yourself involved in another cold case?"

"Aye… though not one of my own this time," the detective answered quietly as he stared down at one of the women within the pile of papers, whose face seemed to stare up at him from her picture. "I'm looking into some of the files the precinct has on a few more runaways who might not want to be found, or who went missing around the same time as Eloise. As a favor to her. She asked if I could help her find some of her friends. She's worried about them."

Regina looked at him once more with worry as she sternly responded, "I'm not so sure that's such a good idea, Rogers. I mean… you know how you felt ever since Eloise disappeared all those years ago. Looking for these other women, especially for her… Don't you see how this might not be a good thing? For you I mean."

She then reached out to lay her hand tenderly over his as she continued, "You ran yourself into the ground trying to find Eloise. It may have paid off, but I think she's trying to use the guilt you've been feeling over her abduction to get you to do her more favors. Believe me when I tell you that Goth… Eloise is not who she seems. She's dangerous, Rogers. And you're a good man who doesn't deserve to keep beating himself up over something that was never your fault in the first place."

"Wasn't it you who warned me the same thing about Weaver?" he asked snidely as he pulled his hand away upon feeling a bit uneasy by her touch even though something about it felt right. "Yet I've come to trust him because it turns out he isn't the villain we thought him to be."

"We all make bad judgement calls," Roni replied curtly. "I admit I too was wrong about Weaver, even if he is the most frustrating son of a bitch I've ever known. But I'm telling you, I'm not wrong about Eloise Gardener. She's poison to you, Rogers. The bane of your existence. If you continue to shake off these uneasy feelings you've found yourself having about her… Don't try to deny it. I can tell I'm right from the look in your eyes right now. …then I promise you, things will not work out in your favor. You will come to regret you didn't trust your instincts you have inside of you. They're there. Trust me, I've seen them. Just listen to your gut… and to your heart."

Rogers shook his head in frustration and then answered curtly, "The problem is… that I can't help but feel drawn to her. It isn't love because I feel as though she's more… family than she's a possible romantic partner. Not to mention that I'm not even looking for one right now in my life. My point is, I can't stop thinking about her and the more I try not to, the worse I feel. It is almost painful. I don't know how else to explain it. I'm obsessed with Eloise, even though I have finally found and saved her. I just can't understand why."

As Rogers opened up to her about all this, Regina began to realize that Gothel must have somehow written these feelings into his persona when he became cursed along with the rest of them in order to torment Hook, but she couldn't explain as such to Rogers so instead she facetiously responded, "It sounds like a curse to me."

The Queen looked again into Rogers' eyes for any hint of recognition as though her wording might have triggered something in the back of his mind with the hope that her words could help Hook to awaken without needing the potion Gothel had made for Drizella so the witch could wake her up and she in turn could awaken Zelena. Unfortunately, the look of defeat in his eyes told Regina that waking Hook was going to prove to be far more difficult.

"So it would seem," he replied sadly, as he looked down at the coffee he realized now he had unknowingly picked up with his prosthetic hand sometime in the middle of their conversation, then he cleared his throat to try to shake off the new uneasy feelings that fell over him since Roni sat down across from him and reached out to try to hold his hand. "But enough about all this. I should get going. I've got to go back on duty soon. I need to start heading back to the precinct."

"What you really need is to catch up on sleep," Roni retorted. "You look like hell. Have you been sleeping at all?"

Rogers stood up from the table to leave as he laid down a few bills to pay for the coffee despite her effort to keep him from paying with a wave of her hand, then he answered, "I'll sleep when there's nothing more for me to do… I guess. But I can do my best to try to help these women too, as I did for Eloise. I was lucky with her. I fear I might not be so with the rest of the runaways she asked me to find for her. Thank you for listening, Roni. Good night."

With that said, Detective Rogers turned away from her and left the bar, as Zelena walked up from behind her sister and then upon having listened to most of the conversation between them, she spoke up saying, "I hope you realize that Gothel has enlisted Rogers to help her by finding the rest of the women from her witch coven and not some innocent runaways."

"Why do you think I was so adamant with him about not helping her?" Regina curtly responded while she picked up the cup the detective had left behind without barely having taken a sip of the now cold coffee inside it, then collected his money as well.

"Maybe that's true, but we both know there's more to you objecting to him helping 'Eloise' so much," Regina's sister replied, then pulled her around so she was facing her. "You care about him, Regina. And while he may not remember all that happened between the two of you years ago, you do. It's killing you to not be able to tell him you love him. And you're scared for him."

Regina glared at her sister again and then retorted, "I was only on the verge of falling in love with him, Zelena. Until I told him we wouldn't work. This whole curse is killing me. Hook isn't the only one whose life is at stake here. Everyone's lives are, especially Henry's and Lucy's. And it's my fault we're all in this situation. If I didn't cast the curse…"

"If you hadn't have cast it, Henry would have died that night," the good witch finished for her before she could continue to put herself down. "And at least here, Hook can be with his daughter even though they don't know they're father and daughter. As terrible as this whole situation here is, there are good things about it too. Even if they are only temporary. Don't worry, sis. We'll find a way to save Lucy very soon and in turn Henry too. We'll also find a way to cure Hook so he can be with Alice again. Remember… you were so close in doing so once before."

"How can I forget," the Queen answered despondently. "We need to come up with a way to convince Rogers just how dangerous Gothel is, or we need to get her to stay away from him. Or our third choice is to wake him… somehow."


	3. Chapter 3

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Three

Two weeks before Henry's and Ella's wedding…

Since arriving within the New Enchanted Forest, Hook, Regina, and Henry had been working together with Tiana, the leader of their rebellion, as well as with Ella, Jack, and others to continue to push back against Lady Tremaine and her soldiers while she continued to make advancements against them in order to try to destroy the heroes once and for all. Zelena and her daughter also joined with them when they could, though they often had their own duties to tend to on their farm a long distance away from the rest of their family and friends.

After establishing their home with those from this new realm, Henry's marriage to Ella was fast approaching and both Regina and Hook were especially worried either Lady Tremaine or Drizella would strike against them to try to ruin the two lovers' happy day. So, they've been working all that much harder to make sure their camp was well protected and that their own spies were out where they would be alerted quickly to an attack should the villains strike.

Late one night, Henry approached Hook as the pirate was planning an offensive against a group of soldiers camped not far from their camp with Regina in case they attempted to attack and cleared his throat so he wouldn't startle his mother and the doppelganger of the father he missed, then spoke up saying, "You guys should call it a night. Surely everything's in their proper place."

Regina smiled as she reached out to take her son's hand and squeezed it gently, then she replied, "You're probably right. We just want to make sure that woman's soldiers can't get through our defenses and that no one will be able to ruin your wedding day like I ruined your grandparents' wedding, or like the Black Fairy did to your mother and Hook… the other Hook."

"They won't," Henry answered confidently, then looked over at Hook as well. "Because I know you. Both of you. Besides, we still have a couple of weeks. We've got plenty of time to make sure everything's in place."

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but Hook… you have some visitors here to see you," Ella interrupted when she appeared before them, followed by Mr. Gold and Alice, who kept her distance from her father out of fear of hurting him, especially once Hook started to move towards her upon seeing her there until he stopped himself from doing so as soon as she warned him to stay back.

The young woman spoke to him despondently as she pleaded, "Please… don't come any closer. We came here with good news, Papa. Rumplestiltskin thinks he may have found a way to cure the poison over your heart so that we can finally be together."

Hook glanced towards the Dark One nervously, then immediately turned back to his daughter as he questioned, "What kind of cure? And what's the price attached to it?"

"My price for it is free," Gold responded, keeping his eyes on his latest student's father somberly, then summoned a book into his hands and carefully turned its pages until he came upon the one he sought to show him. "I made a promise to Alice that I would help you both find a way to be cured of the curse forced upon you. However, as you know there's always a price with the magic involved in such a feat. In this ancient spell book we came across in our travels throughout this realm as well as others, I've discovered an elixir that can be made to cure the curse of the poisoned heart. Unfortunately, it requires a special ingredient that cannot be found here. I need the waters from a magical spring with elements that can be found only within Neverland."

Killian shook his head in objection as he curtly replied, "No. We can't risk it."

Regina looked at him worryingly as she asked, "Why not? If there's a chance you can finally be free to be with your daughter, isn't it a risk you're willing to take? I'll come with you."

"I would do whatever it takes to be with her again," he answered adamantly, then his eyes softened as he looked back over at Alice, who in turn kept her eyes on him as well. "But only if it was I who had to risk everything to get what I need. I would brave the treacheries of Neverland again in a second. But I can't ask you to come with me. This journey's far too dangerous. Surely you remember what Neverland is like from your own travels there, but the Neverland we'd be traveling to… because it stems off from my own realm, the Wish Realm, Pan was never defeated. He's very much alive and just as vile as the demon you've described in your stories from your own adventure there. I won't have you come with me and I certainly won't allow Alice to come either. I can't have any of you risking your lives. Not for me."

"Then we'll travel to the Neverland we know, where only the Lost Boys remain," Henry responded before his friend could go on. "You still ought to know it enough to be able to guide us to its magical spring, and this way we won't have to worry about fighting against Pan. I just have to be the one who enters the portal first so that it leads us to where I'm thinking of."

Hook let out a sigh of frustration, then retorted, "It won't ever work if your Neverland and mine are too different. Like you've told me, it was only the other me who traveled to Dead Man's Peak along with his brother as I have, then again with your grandfather. I know where the magical spring is. You don't. It's best we go where I'm most familiar, but the risk is still far too great. Besides, you're about to be married in two weeks time. I can't lose you, Henry. I promised your mother and my other self I would look after you. I can't lose any of you. You all mean too much to me."

Regina spoke up again saying, "Which is why I'll be coming along to look after you both."

"Papa, please…" Alice whispered again pleadingly as she took a few steps closer to her father, though this time it was Killian who moved away from her. "Aren't you tired of living this way? Being this close to one another, but being unable to truly be together? I know how much it kills you to not be able to hold me when I'm sad. How much you have to fight from embracing me even now, just to assure yourself I'm really here and that I'm still with you. Being unable to be with you is killing me too, Papa."

"If there's a chance to cure the poison over your heart and this mark on my arm put there by that witch who did this to us, I would go anywhere and risk anything," she added as she pulled back the sleeve of her blouse to reveal the branding mark burned into her wrist.

Regina looked to Alice and then turned back to Hook again as she replied, "If you're willing to make the journey yourself, Hook… I told you, I'm in. I know how it feels to be separated from my son, though because I was still the Evil Queen then. And again because of the Pan we knew when he had Henry kidnapped, then cast another dark curse himself in order to separate us. I would fight through hell again and again to be with him. Believe me, I've been there… literally. Alice can stay here with Gold so she won't be there in Neverland to put herself in any danger. What do you say, Hook?"

When his friend didn't say anything at first, Henry continued, "You're almost as much of a father to me as Killian is, Hook. You are practically him after all. If it were him facing this curse, he'd give everything he had to fight for those he loves. He'd be afraid to accept our help in such a perilous journey, but he also understands it's always better to fight together no matter the risk. It makes for a better chance at success. I feel the same way."

"I trust you will look after my future husband," Ella said quietly as she moved to stand beside Henry and took his hand in her own. "You'll be back in plenty of time for our wedding."

"Please trust them," Alice pleaded once more as she turned back to her father. "If you don't want me to go, I won't. But you have to be willing to fight if you wish to keep me from going to Neverland on my own. Because I will if you refuse to help yourself."

The pirate captain from the Wish Realm chortled at his daughter's stubbornness, then finally he answered, "Very well. We'll leave at first light. But Alice… you have to promise me you'll remain here."

Killian quickly turned to the man who wore the face of his former enemy he had once sworn revenge on, then stated, "Please keep her from following after us once we're gone. She's stubborn. Continue to look after her for me?"

"You have my word," Gold responded. "The waters alone aren't enough to cure the poison over your heart, but the rest of the ingredients I can find here. I can also gather what's needed to keep the waters from taking your life, since you'll be drinking what will no longer a part of that forsaken world."

"Thank you, Gold," Hook whispered with sincerity, then reached out his hand in gratitude for the Dark One to shake. "Even if this doesn't work, I still thank you. For giving us both hope."


	4. Chapter 4

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Four

Present day, Hyperion Heights…

After he left Roni's, Detective Rogers drove the streets until he came upon the worst area of town where a majority of its homeless, drug dealers and addicts, gang members, and prostitutes all hung around. It wasn't a place Rogers went often and he despised doing so when he had to. However, this night was different, as his search for the runaways Eloise had asked him to find led him there and it wasn't long before he found himself watching one of the women from his files from several yards away, as she sought to pick up a man for the next few hours.

More men than the detective imagined stopped and a few of the other hookers seeking to sleep with them left in the men's cars with them, but Eloise's friend in question, whose name was Maggie Dawson, had so far been unsuccessful after the hours Rogers had been watching her for. Unfortunately, one of the men who drove into the same part of Hyperion Heights with bad intentions stopped in front of her as well, and Maggie walked over to his car without any fear. In fact, her face showed twisted pleasure upon doing so and she took no time in seducing whoever was inside as she leaned through the passenger side's window.

At last, Rogers could see money being exchanged up front between the two and he didn't hesitate to get out of his own car, then jogged across the street and rushed over to the woman as he pulled out his badge and cuffs to place her under arrest for prostitution. The man in the car sped off immediately upon seeing the cop come up on them from behind in order to avoid being caught and hopefully unseen. Maggie on the other hand growled and rolled her eyes as Rogers guided her over to the wall, then carefully cuffed her wrists behind her back.

"Maggie Dawson, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to bring you in for eliciting an act of prostitution," he said firmly while he did so.

"I don't believe you know me, pal… and I'm pretty sure I don't know you," she retorted in a deep voice with a hint of an accent, as she struggled against him until he finished, then began to walk her back to over his car. "So why are you wasting your time out here waiting to arrest someone like me? There have been plenty of pick ups tonight. Why me? I don't suppose I could interest you in…"

Knowing what she was trying to do, Rogers immediately interrupted, "Don't. Don't try that with me. I'm not interested. Nor am I really interested in bringing you into the precinct where I work to lock you up behind bars. However, your file tells me you have quite the record and tend to be difficult to everyone you come across because you have trust issues. I can certainly understand that. However, you also tend to be a bit of a troublemaker. Even have been arrested for using and dealing drugs, until you got into this sort of life."

As he gently pushed her into the back of his car, then latched the seatbelt over her, she asked, "What sort of life is that? Tell me, exactly what else does my file tell you, Officer…?"

"Detective Rogers," he answered, then closed the door and walked around his car to get in behind the steering wheel to begin the drive back to the station. "I didn't come here because of what's in your file. I came here because someone asked me to come find you. A friend. She's concerned for you. Her name is Eloise Gardener. Does her name mean anything to you?"

"I can't say I recognize it," Maggie replied coldly while she stared out the window beside her, ignoring his eyes when she noticed the detective kept on glancing back at her through the rearview mirror, his eyes soft and gentle. "I'm afraid she's mislead you. Either that, or she's the one who's mistaken."

Rogers let out a quiet sigh and then continued, "Honestly, I was just hoping for a chance to talk with you. I need to talk with you and I knew you wouldn't speak with me willingly unless I gave you a little prompting. If you'd be willing, I can pull over right now, we can find a diner somewhere, and I can get you something to eat or perhaps some coffee if you prefer. I can explain to you who Eloise is and why talking to you is so important."

She scoffed as she shook her head, then responded, "And if I refuse, you'll stick this arrest on me? And what does this one get me? Another year? Two? I don't care what you have to say and I don't care if some woman named Eloise is looking for me. I told you, I don't know her and I don't care to know her. I don't care to know you. So either let me go, or stop talking."

He respected her wishes and did like she asked, as he didn't say another word to her for the rest of the ride back to the precinct. When they finally arrived, the detective gently guided the young woman inside and sat her down in a chair he moved in front of his desk so he could book her. What Rogers didn't expect was to find Eloise inside, when she suddenly walked over to them and knelt down in front of the woman a little older than she was, then reached out to take Maggie's hand. However, Maggie immediately pulled back before their hands could touch while she glared at the woman with long reddish blonde braids as she did so.

"You don't recognize me?" Eloise questioned fearfully, then turned her head to look up at the detective with concern in her eyes. "What happened to her? She and I used to be really close when we lived together on the streets."

"Perhaps you and I should talk in private," Rogers stated quietly, then reached down to help the woman he rescued to stand when Eloise nodded in agreement and took his hand he offered to her.

Eloise rose to her feet and started to follow him, until she suddenly grabbed Maggie's hand again before she could pull away like before. Only this time, a spark suddenly ignited between them as they pulled apart. A magical spark that could only be seen by the two women as Maggie's true memories of the woman she really was before the curse suddenly came rushing back to her. Rogers failed to see the power because he didn't believe, like Emma Swan had failed to see August's leg was being turned back into wood years ago when she had first moved to Storybrooke because she couldn't believe in magic either.

As he led the younger woman away, Eloise turned her head back to Maggie once more and they both smiled at one another, then continued on with their charade in front of the detective. One woman being deeply concerned for her friend, and the other being a woman who had given up on trying to live a better life away from the streets and cruel men.

Once they were standing alone outside of the main room and far enough away from his arrestee, Rogers looked into Eloise's concerned eyes, then spoke up quietly again saying, "I'm sorry about your friend, Eloise. I wish you hadn't been here for that."

She lied as she answered worryingly, "I'm sorry I came here again without calling you to let you know I'd be coming. It's just that… I wanted to apologize for the other day. For kissing you, I mean. It was wrong and I certainly didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I think you were right that my gratitude towards you kind of took a turn the wrong way."

"You've no need to apologize," he sincerely replied, then glanced towards Maggie and saw her struggling to free her wrists from the cuffs keeping her locked to his desk. "I understand you were simply feeling overwhelmed. But for right now, we should focus on Maggie. I don't know why she doesn't recognize you. There's no record of her having been in an accident during her years on the streets that might have caused memory loss. At least not a record known to the police. Give me some time to talk with her. If she's willing to talk, then I'm willing to release her as a show of good faith with the hope that she will try to turn her life around. Perhaps you can help her. I just suggest you don't force yourself in her life. Give her some time."

"I'll do anything," Eloise responded smugly, though Rogers couldn't sense the smugness within her words. "All I want is to have Maggie back in my life again. I'm really just happy to see that she's somewhat all right."

He nodded and then answered, "I know. By the way, I've tried to find the others you've asked me to find as well. Maggie was the first of your friends I found. I've also discovered another of them is currently in the hospital... the psych ward, I'm afraid. Diana Levinson. It appears she's much worse off than even Maggie is. I can't go into detail right now, but…"

She interrupted him before he could say more as she asked, "She didn't hurt anyone, did she? Please… I need to see her. Diana is the closest I have to a sister. You weren't the first person to save my life, Detective Rogers. There was one winter I fell ill. She took care of me and when she couldn't any longer without medicine, she broke into a pharmacy and stole what she needed to make me well. I know that must be in her police record. She cared for me, even when she had her own problems she was dealing with. I have to see her, if only to let her know not everyone has given up on her. Please…"

"All right," Rogers replied reluctantly, not really feeling right about bringing Eloise to the hospital to see a woman potentially as dangerous as her record says she is, though for some reason he couldn't seem to say no to her either. "Meet me back here in the morning. At nine o'clock. I believe Detective Weaver has a meeting with one of his informants then. I get the sense neither of you are too keen on getting to know one another."

"I just get the sense that Weaver thinks I'm too far gone to be of any help," she responded coldly, keeping her false sense of innocence about her as she looked into his eyes once more. "I'm thankful not everyone thinks so. Thank you, detective."

With that said, Eloise Gardner walked out of the station without so much as another glance towards Maggie, knowing the woman her sister witch was once again now that the curse over her had finally been broken with a single touch, would find her upon being released from police custody. And that it wouldn't be long before they would be reunited with another of their sisters. If everything worked out the next day, then their coven would be closer to being complete as four of the eight would be found.


	5. Chapter 5

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Five

After Eloise left, Rogers returned to Maggie at his desk, then pulled his chair around so that he was sitting in front of her, instead of across from her. Maggie glared at him out of the corners of her eyes, then turned and stared ahead of her without saying a word to him. So, the detective reached into his pocket with his prosthetic hand and used it to pull out his keys, then with his real hand he worked to unlock the cuffs around her wrists as a show of good faith in hope it would help her to trust him enough to talk to him.

He then spoke first saying, "I'm sorry she startled you. Eloise… that is. That's who was here just now. She's deeply concerned about you. I understand you and her were once friends some time ago. But if you really want to learn the truth of that for yourself, I can't be the one to help you, except to take you to the hospital so you can be checked out if you so choose. You're going to need to see someone more professional to help you remember what and who you might be missing in your life. Can you tell me anything about who you really are, or where you come from? Do you have a family who might be missing you?"

She laughed, then responded coldly, "Nope. I had parents. Obviously… since I'm alive in this crummy world. But they were cruel and used people to build themselves up in society. They used me. They didn't care about me or anyone else but themselves. They didn't even care about each other. Anyone who knew them though, believed otherwise. Except for me. I saw them for who they really were. If I didn't do what they told me to do, then I was punished. Beaten until I was black and blue all over. That's why I ran away and began living on the streets. I finally got up the courage to. I heard two years later that they were both killed in a tragic car accident. I should have been sad for them, but I wasn't. Let me tell you, detective. Life as a whore is a whole lot better than my life was with them. The money's great and I love having sex with men no matter who they are. My offer's still on the table."

"Like I told you, that isn't going to happen," Rogers immediately answered as he quickly stood and backed away when the woman before him reached out, then seductively began to stroke his leg until he stopped her.

"You ought to learn to go out and have some fun, detective," Maggie replied as he picked up her file from his desk, in hope that something might help him decide what to do with her. "Or is it that you've already found yourself someone who turns you on? Maybe that… Eloise woman? I saw how she looked at you. More importantly, I saw how you were looking at her. I can tell you like her even if you can't admit it."

He looked back over at her, then stated, "You're wrong. A part of me is telling me to let you go. However, the other part of me knows that if I do, you'll go right back to…"

She finished for him, "…to prostitution? I can't promise you I'll be celibate, but I can say my life will certainly be better from now on. Thanks to you. I'd like to find out what I'm missing in my life. And I'd like to find out if Eloise really is a part of it like you both claim. However, if it's all right with you, I'd like to walk into the hospital on my own. Things might be worse for me if I walk in with a cop. You can understand that, can't you?"

"I do understand," the detective responded with concern. "I'm just not so sure it's the right thing to do. You could be playing me. How can I trust you won't just run away and start this kind of life some place new? Besides, what you've done is against the law and I can't just dismiss it. You might not think you mind what you're doing to yourself, but one day you'll wake up regretting it. And it's not just you who's effected by these actions. You're destroying lives."

"Not alone I'm not," the woman coldly retorted. "If you're talking about the other men's families, they're the ones responsible for ruining their own lives and the lives of their loved ones if the husbands and fathers are found out. Fine… if you don't want to trust I won't leave here to try to put my life back on track, then give Eloise a call. Have her come back and walk with me to the hospital. You trust her, don't you?"

Rogers kept his eyes trained on her until he noticed his partner as Weaver walked through the door and noticed the stern look on his face before he walked out of the main room, then the younger detective stated, "You've made some mistakes. I need some time to consider what the right thing to do is. You'll have to remain here overnight. Maybe by morning, we'll both know what the right thing is. I'll be back shortly to see you to your cell. One of the other men here will see to it you're gotten something to eat. If you'll excuse me?"

He motioned to the officer nearby and asked him to do as he needed him to do, then walked away to find Weaver. However, as he did so, he couldn't find his partner anywhere. He wasn't in his office or the storage room Weaver kept all of his belongings separated from the rest of the officers who worked at the precinct. So, Rogers checked on Maggie one last time to make sure she was where she was meant to be and taken care of, then finally called it a night so he could return home to his apartment to contemplate on how to deal with the troubled woman awaiting his decision.

The next morning…

Maggie Dawson walked out on her own free and clear after Detective Rogers had made the decision to release her. However, before she left the station, he had given her a word of warning that he would be keeping his eyes on her to at least make sure she wouldn't continue to break the law as she has been, then gave her some money from his own pocket she would hopefully use to help her find a fresh start.

A short time after leaving the precinct, Eloise expectedly appeared before her as Maggie entered an alley down the street and the two women stared at each other for a minute, until they suddenly embraced and laughed with one another like old acquaintances upon seeing one another again after a time has passed.

Finally, the witch who helped Drizella create the dark curse that brought everyone to Hyperion Heights from the Enchanted Forest spoke saying, "Didn't I tell you our plan would work? It's good to see you again, Minerva."

Maggie smiled and answered, "It's good to see you too, Gothel. And you were right. A gentle touch is enough to awaken our sisters. I should have trusted you more than I did. I'll know from now on not to underestimate you, nor question the decision to make you our leader. But I've got to say, I had a good life while I was cursed… but Maggie? Was that really the best name you could come up with for me?"

"The name wasn't of my doing," Gothel replied as they locked arms and continued to walk together down the street. "But we can talk about that later. I've grown closer to bringing our coven back together again. You're not the only one found thanks to Detective Rogers. Soon we'll be reunited with Draya too and he's completely unaware of what he's really doing for us."

"Hook always was the fool," the other witch responded haughtily and then smiled at her sister once more as her grip on Gothel's and tightened. "But he's still as handsome as he always was. I hope he'll be a part of what's next for us?"

The younger woman answered cruelly, "He will be. We've a lot to talk about."

Maggie looked towards a man who was staring at her with lust from across the street while she walked by him and she smiled, then replied, "We do."


	6. Chapter 6

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Six

When the three heroes stepped out of the portal that opened up upon the pirate captain throwing a magic bean before them so they could pass through realms, they found themselves in Neverland, only a new and different version of island which Henry and Regina both remembered so well despite their efforts to forget it. To Hook, this Neverland looked the same to him as it always did. Dark and eerie, as the sounds of lost children crying could be heard in the distance from where they stood on a cliff overlooking the treacherous forest below.

"And I thought I would never have to hear those sounds ever again," Hook whispered despondently, though to no one in particular.

"What sounds?" Regina asked curiously, being unable to hear the cries herself.

Henry walked over to stand between his mother and friend while he replied coldly, "The sounds of the Lost Boys crying. Only those who've been abandoned by their parents can hear them. It's just one of this island's many cruelties. Mom could hear them too, the last time we came here. Grandpa… Gold, must have been able to as well. You're lucky you can't, Mom."

The Queen looked over at her son and gently squeezed his shoulder to offer him what little comfort she could in that moment, then responded, "I'm sorry, Henry. And Hook. Let's just make our way to the spring and get what we came here for. The sooner we do, the sooner we can leave. I have to say, it's a good thing Alice thought to harvest herself a supply of magic beans so we've got a few to get back to the Enchanted Forest with… in case we can't make it through the first portal."

"You've each got one," Hook then stated as he continued to stare ahead of him until he turned and started walking away from the cliff's edge to head into the forest, while Henry and the Regina followed after him. "Like I have. So if anything happens to me while we're here, you can both get home. And you must. Neither of you should have come with me. Neverland is far too dangerous. This is my fight. My problem. I never should have allowed my daughter to convince me to come back. Surely there's another way to heal my heart."

"There probably is another way, but Hook…" Regina began to answer until she cut herself off when she rushed forward in order to move in front of the pirate to get him to stop by grabbing him by his shoulders so that he was looking at her as she continued. "We came with you by our own choices because we care about you. I didn't want to admit it at first and maybe not for the longest time after Emma first suggested you team up with us on our adventures. But you've been good for my son just like your other self was… is. I'll forever be grateful to you for that. And don't you dare go into this believing you're going to fail. We've got a treacherous journey ahead of us, but none of us are in the habit of giving up. You know that."

The captain looked deep into her eyes as he uttered quietly, "I just don't want to let my daughter down again."

Henry came up beside them and replied, "You've never let her down, Hook. You could have gone with Gothel to continue seeking your revenge against the Rumplestiltskin from the Wish Realm. And with her power you might have even succeeded in doing so. But instead you stayed behind with Alice in that tower even though it was a lonely life until she grew up. You sacrificed everything for her. She loves you, and she's proud of you. Now come on. Let's find that spring."

Hook finally allowed himself to loosen up a little and nodded as he smiled at them to show his gratitude for their encouragement, then he continued to lead them through the forest in the direction of Dead Man's Peak where the island's source of magic remained protected by the dreamshade plants surrounding it.

Even though they spoke quietly amongst themselves while they carefully cut down the brush and plants blocking their path ahead, time passed slowly. The longer the heroes remained there, the more nervous they became, as Pan and his minions had yet to attack them. It was only a matter of time before they did, as they learned from their last time in Neverland that the demon knew everything that happened on the island, including when there were new arrivals. Little did they know that Pan and the Lost Boys weren't the only threat to them.

At long last, they came upon the bottom of the peak. Hook then looked over the ropes he carried over his shoulder and around his waist to make sure that they were sturdy and thick enough for the others to climb up behind him once he did so himself, having made the climb a number of times before in the centuries he lived there.

"You know you don't have to make that climb on your own," Regina said to him worryingly as she suddenly grasped Hook's arm when the pirate was about to take the first steps up. "I can use my magic to…"

"The more you use your magic, the more attention you will draw right to us and though we've been lucky Pan hasn't discovered our arrival thus far, it won't be long before he does if you even so much as make a spark," he retorted sternly, then looked between his friends with his own concern. "I'll be fine. And so will you. This peak isn't as treacherous as it appears."

Unfortunately, it was then that the ruler of the island chose to come before the heroes from out of nowhere as Pan snidely responded, "That cliff might not be, but I am. Just as treacherous as I appear, that is. Hello again, Hook. I'm surprised you've come back after all these years. The last time we talked, you were pretty adamant about not returning to Neverland again."

The captain immediately moved protectively in front of Henry and Regina, who ignited a fireball within her hand to defend them, then the boy sneered as he added, "And you brought the Evil Queen with you too. Is she a passenger on your ship? Wait a minute, your ship isn't here now… is it? You haven't come here your usual way. Why is that?"

"My business isn't yours," Killian answered curtly, as he pulled his cutlass once again from its scabbard at his side, as did Henry. "If you've come for a fight, I'm more than ready. But how about we make this a fair fight. Sword to sword, no magic. Or are you a coward?"

"You brought your friends here with you, so I brought mine," Peter replied, when a small number of his Lost Boys suddenly ran out from the plant life and trees, then surrounded them as the demon summoned a sword into his own hand. "I give you my word, Captain. No magic. I may be young, but I can fight with a blade as well as you."

Hook quickly turned again to Regina as she snuffed out her fireball and used her power to force two of the boys back when they charged, then he whispered, "Now's the time for you to use your magic, Your Majesty. Go get the waters from the spring while Henry and I hold them off. Worry not about your son. I'll protect him. Go!"

She didn't hesitate doing like he asked as she used her magic to transport herself on top of the peak, then Regina waved her hand over the dreamshade plants Hook had warned her about during their conversation on their way to the cliff to part them so she could get through to the magical spring. Fear for her son and their friend lingered in her mind despite her knowing they could handle themselves well in a fight. However, Pan had magic and while he said he wouldn't use his power against them just now, she didn't trust he wouldn't go back on his word to gain the upper hand if he so chose to.

Regina entered through the plants' opening and knelt down over the waters as she summoned Hook's flask he always carried on him to her hand and quickly uncorked its top so she could fill it. However, she froze when thunder and lightning unnaturally appeared in the sky above her, then she turned her head when Gothel suddenly appeared within the storm's darkness before her.

The former Evil Queen cautiously rose to her feet to face the witch while she stated darkly, "Gothel… I should have known you'd follow us here."

"Don't think I haven't been keeping my eyes on you heroes, just like you used to do when you were still the witch I once admired yourself," the villainess smugly responded. "You could have been a part of my coven had you remained the woman who made you stronger than the woman you've become instead, Regina."

"I like who I've become," Regina answered with confidence. "And I'm more powerful now than I ever was back then because I have learned to like who I am. Light magic is more powerful than your dark magic."

The other woman sneered as she replied, "Let's not waste time with petty words trying to convince one another which of us is better. You know that I can't allow you to heal Hook's poisoned heart. He defied me and denied me what I wanted from him."

Regina glared at her as she coldly responded, "He gave you a daughter and your freedom from the tower you then trapped her in for the next several years. You could have been a mother to her and perhaps even a wife had you not deceived him about who you really were and allowed love to take its natural course. But instead you gave into your cruelty that poisons your own heart and tore Hook from Alice because he refused to be your slave, which he would have been had he given into his own darkness. Love for his daughter saved him then. It will again. However, love won't save you because it's not a quality you possess."

"You underestimate me," Gothel answered haughtily, as Regina was suddenly bound when roots and vines from the trees began to twist around her body and her wrists in effort to hold her long enough so the witch could do as she came to Neverland to do. "These waters won't help you and Rumplestiltskin to help him."

"No!" the Queen shouted as Gothel pulled a vile from her bosom and used her powers to shatter it over the spring so that its contents spilled into the magic waters, as Regina then saw the pool begin to turn black while her poison spread until it strangely reshaped itself into a small stone within the palm of her hand once it finished doing its job. "What the hell have you done?"

The witch smiled cruelly at her enemy as she replied, "I've extracted all magic from within these waters, making it nothing more than just a spring. Now Pan will have to look elsewhere if he wishes to save Neverland and to remain youthful forever. Just as you heroes will have to try harder to help Hook. That is if he survives. I fear you might be too late."

Regina was finally freed from her bonds as she ran over to the cliff's edge and looked down in time to see Hook fall when he was suddenly shot in his upper chest by an arrow from Pan's bow, having shoved her son out of the way after the island's ruler attempted to kill Henry while his back was turned to the demon. She and Henry both cried out for him in fear as Henry quickly grabbed hold of him, and Regina immediately magicked herself down between her son and the villain before them, then forced the last of the Lost Boys still standing back into the trees around them, attempting to do the same to Pan as well. However, his own power allowed him to remain on his feet until he gasped and doubled over in pain.

Peter looked up at her again through his anguish, then suddenly emitted power from his hands as it washed over the heroes and snarled, "You… you've destroyed the magic within the spring. You've killed Neverland!"

"I wasn't the one who did this," Regina angrily responded as she remained protective over Henry and Hook. "If you want someone to blame, blame the witch who calls herself Mother Gothel. Is that arrow poisoned?"

"Unfortunately it's one of the few that weren't, but if you want to save Hook, you'll have to find a way to do it without your magic and now without the spring's waters as well," Peter Pan answered darkly while he struggled to stand straight. "What little magic I have left was enough for me to neutralize your own, so you won't be able to use it any longer until you find your way home. If you even can. Any magic beans you may be carrying with you are now powerless too."

With that said, Pan suddenly vanished within a green smoke cloud while the Lost Boys around them weakly rose to their feet and ran away. Once they were gone, Regina looked up on top of the peak and watched as Gothel disappeared as well, then she finally turned back to Hook while she rushed over to kneel down at his side.

She quickly examined the wound made by the arrow sticking out from his chest, then took his hand in her own and looked into Henry's eyes with worry as she said quietly, "We need to find ourselves some place where we can make a shelter and then treat him. Help me carry him."

The younger man nodded and looked down at his friend lying against him while Killian writhed in pain, then together he and Regina struggled to lift him between them as gently as they could while Henry whispered fearfully, "Hook saved my life just now. I've got most of his weight. You're going to need keep your eyes on our surroundings in case Pan or the Lost Boys attack again."

Without waiting any longer, Henry and Regina carefully guided Hook back through the forest while they fought against the hanging tree branches and plants once again blocking their path. The wounded pirate struggled to help them by staying on his feet the best he could despite feeling so weakened, until he couldn't any longer when he slowly lost consciousness. Thankfully they didn't have much further to go when they finally came upon a small clearing where they hoped they'd be safe long enough to help him.

Regina helped her son to lay the pirate captain on the ground, then she reached up to raise her son's head so he was looking at her as she spoke again quietly saying, "I need you to find some firewood… so we can build a fire. Quickly. We need to keep him warm and I'll most likely have to cauterize the wound once I can get the arrow out. Be careful, Henry."

He smiled at his mother to reassure her he'd be fine, then looked back down at Hook and gently squeezed his hand as though he were awake enough to feel comforted in the slightest way Henry could offer him while he pleaded, "Hold on, Killian."


	7. Chapter 7

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Seven

Nine o'clock the next morning came and after Gothel met up with her sister witch down the street from the station, the leader of their coven spent nearly an hour with Minerva at a quiet diner a few more blocks further down as they ate breakfast while she caught her up on all that's been happening in Hyperion Heights since the dark curse had swept over them, then finally arrived a few minutes early at the precinct again like Detective Rogers asked her to do so they could head down to the hospital to try to talk with another of Eloise's friends, Diana Levinson.

As she walked inside, the detective was once again at his desk reading through what she could vaguely make out was a book of law. However, as she walked in to stand before him like she had done a few days before and set down a cup of coffee in front of him, Rogers immediately jumped up upon being startled by her sudden appearance. Somehow she always seemed to surprise him, even when he expected her and her presence was becoming more and more uncomfortable for him than he could understand despite the relief he's felt since saving her from Victoria Belfrey.

This time, she spoke up first saying, "Good morning, Detective Rogers. I'm sorry for scaring you. It's uh… it's none o'clock, the time you asked me to meet you here. I brought you some coffee."

He smiled nervously as he glanced between her and the coffee she set before him and then answered, "Thanks. Good morning, Eloise. Forgive me for seeming nervous. I had yet another sleepless night and I appear to have been too engrossed in this book… Sort of. It doesn't matter. I'm sorry."

"You have no need to apologize," the rescued woman responded gently. "This hasn't been easy on either one of us it seems. Since you found me, I haven't been able to get you out of my mind and I know you think it's because you saved me and that I'm just feeling grateful, but I can't help feeling like…"

"Please, let's just go and find your friend at the hospital," Rogers interrupted her before she could continue on, then started to walk away from his desk without taking the coffee with him until Eloise followed after him after picking it up herself, then handed over to him.

She quickly stated, "I remember my father once telling my mother that if you have a sleepless night, coffee is the best solution for a day of wakefulness. Please, it's my treat."

He reluctantly took it from her as he replied, "Thank you. It was very thoughtful. I want you to know I've released Maggie this morning when I first came in. We talked after you left yesterday. I may wind up getting chewed out for releasing a woman like Maggie, with a record like she has, but I after all she's been through… I can't but feel like she's not so happy with the life she's wound up in as she pretends to be. She deserves a second chance and I'm hoping she'll be willing to meet with you again in time. I'll be keeping contact with her. I wish to help her."

"Like you've helped me," Gothel said while she let a smug smile come across her lips when the man of her own obsession took a sip of the coffee, then began to feel faint as he collapsed weakly against the wall beside him and held himself against it until the dizziness passed. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm… not so… I think it's just a sign that I've gone too long without sleep," Rogers answered after a few moments when he straightened himself and pulled away again from the wall. "I apologize. I'm not sure what happened. But yes, I'm alright now."

Eloise reached out and put her arm through his, then took his hand as they continued to walk out of the station, while she responded, "Leaving this daunting workplace for awhile ought to do you some good. Especially since we'll be helping someone I care about a great deal."

A short time later, Rogers and Eloise arrived at the hospital and the detective spoke with the doctor in charge of the psychiatric ward, after which a few minutes later they were led through the corridors until they came the room where Miss. Levinson was being held and treated for what the doctors believed was schizophrenia.

The doctor unlocked the door to let them inside the room, then when they found her sitting on her bed with her back to them while she stared out the window, he spoke up to the woman inside saying, "Diana… there's a couple of people here to see you. Some friends. And I think they can help you. Would you like to meet them?"

"Diana, it's me… Eloise," the witch stated quietly when the ill woman didn't speak or even turn around to face them, then gave her another minute to process before continuing. "It's been a long time, but you and I were once very close."

"I'm not close to anyone, so whoever you are… just go away," Diana retorted curtly, still without facing anyone.

Gothel looked worryingly at Rogers, who simply nodded his encouragement for her to move in closer to continue to try to help her, then she turned back to the woman before them and carefully sat down on the bed beside her as she replied, "I don't care what you've done to land you in this miserable place, but I know you well enough to know that you're not crazy like others may believe you to be."

Diana finally turned her head to look at the woman beside her as Eloise reached out and gently took her hand in her own, then her true self suddenly became awakened as Minerva had been when the same spark between the women was emitted from within them. It was then that Diana once again became Draya, Gothel's most trusted sister within their coven.

"Eloise?" she at last whispered with a surprise that was now nothing more than an act meant to continue to deceive the detective still standing within the doorway beside the hospital's doctor. "You're here. How did you find me?"

"I had some help from the very man who saved my life as well," Gothel answered and glanced over at Rogers again and smiled, as he did. "Detective Rogers found me after I was taken and then he used his pull from being a detective with the police department to find you for me."

The leader of the witch coven then rose from the bed and beguilingly walked towards Rogers again until she stood with her face an inch apart from his while she said darkly, "And now he's going to help me break you out of here."

Before either Rogers or the doctor could process what was happening and object to her sudden advance towards him, Gothel forced her lips over his once more. Only unlike the first time she had tried kissing him, this time she at last pulled back after several seconds and found Rogers to be under a trance of her own design.

"Detective… are you alright?" the doctor asked strangely upon seeing his motionless state, then looked between the two women when they too slowly began to advance on him until they stopped a few feet away. "What's… what's going on?"

"Detective Rogers, I need you to take care of the man standing between us and the door for me," Eloise commanded, then smiled cruelly when Rogers unholstered his service weapon from his right hip and suddenly used it to strike the man beside him hard across his face to knock him to ground while he fell unconscious, having no control over his own actions as his mind was no longer his own in that moment. "I need you to kill him. Then we'll need to get out of here before the rest of these doctors here become aware of what you're about to do."

When Draya quickly grabbed the pillow from off her bed and tossed it to him, Rogers caught it and without hesitation, laid it roughly over the doctor's face, then pushed the gun over him in order to muffle the sound of the gunshot as he pulled the trigger to follow the orders given to him.

Once he finished, the witch her leader had come to the hospital to free spoke again saying haughtily, "I've got to hand it to you, Gothel. Despite this curse weakening our magic, you certainly haven't lost your gift. I can't wait to hear everything."

Gothel smiled at her and then responded, "First things first. We'll have plenty of time now that we're together again."

"Have any of the rest of our sisters awakened yet?" Diana then asked as Rogers unwittingly led them through the hospital towards the exit so they could make their escape as quickly as possible.

"Minerva is waiting for us," Eloise replied once they made their way back to Rogers' car he had driven her there in, only she got behind the wheel instead after she gently laid Rogers down on the backseat after he lost conscious himself like Gothel expected from her potion she had slipped in his coffee. "I'm sorry to say the detective's skills will no longer be of any use to us. We can't depend on him to find the others because he's going to be too busy trying to save himself. It'll be up to us. But we will find them, when the time is right. My magic grows stronger every day."


	8. Chapter 8

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Eight

In Neverland…

Once Henry left Regina alone with Hook to gather the wood they needed to make a fire with, the Queen immediately got to work in helping the wounded man lying on the ground in front of her, as she carefully pulled back the lapels of Hook's leather duster, as well as his shirt covering his chest to try to get a closer look at the wound around the arrow still protruding from his chest. She tore the cloth away as gently as she could. Unfortunately, his blood seeped out around the shaft while she struggled to stifle it the best she could so he wouldn't lose quite so much, making seeing the wound difficult.

"I'm so sorry, Hook," Regina whispered sadly, not actually expecting him to hear her talking to him as she ripped away a large part of the skirt of her gown she was wearing to turn it into rags she could use to put over the wound, especially for once she finally pulled the arrow out and his blood would begin to flow far heavier than it was now. "I really need you to keep on fighting and to not give up. Because Henry can't lose you. Neither can I for that matter. You've become a much better friend than I ever expected you could. I'm afraid that's mostly my fault really, because I held such a grudge against… well against the other you for so long. Until he sacrificed his life to save all of ours from the darkness that is. I know you're not him, but sometimes I see him in you and I almost forget you're two completely different people."

"Hook and I have had this conversation before ourselves," Henry said quietly when he returned with a pile of sticks and branches in arms, having heard most of his mother's one sided conversation with the pirate and his closest friend. "I asked him once if it bothered him that we often compared him to Killian. Hook said he was flattered and honored that he reminded us of such a hero."

The younger man quickly got to work in building a small pyre out of the wood he brought back with him, then to ignite a fire without the use of Regina's magic since Pan had rendered her powerless, as he glanced over at his mother and asked, "What happened up on top of the peak? Did you get the waters from the spring?"

Regina continued her own duties to help him while she responded, "No. If I had, we could have used some of it to heal this wound. But like I said, we weren't the only ones who came to Neverland. Gothel followed us here. She somehow knew what we planned to do and destroyed the magic of the spring before I could do anything to stop her. I failed and now I can't do anything to help Hook."

"You're helping him now by tending to his wound," her son replied, then finally managed to get a small fire going that would hopefully be enough to give off a little heat their friend now so desperately needed. "Speaking of, we need to…"

"We need to heal him," the Queen curtly interrupted, then lowered her hands over the arrow wound and struggled to spark her magic enough to do so. "I've always used my magic to heal anyone. I don't know if I can help him without it."

Henry reached out to take her hands to stop her efforts as her powers continued to fail her, then he looked into his mother's eyes and answered, "You can, Mom. We can together. He's going to be fine even if you can't use your magic."

Regina smiled at him sadly and then she responded, "I want to believe you. We may not be able to use magic to help him right now, or the magic beans to get home, but you saw that demon as well as I did before he disappeared. He was weak and he said that Neverland was dying. This spell he used on us ought to wear off eventually."

"I hope you're right," he replied worryingly, then moved to kneel at Hook's other side and carefully helped Regina to lift Hook's upper body off the ground so they could see if the arrow had embedded itself most of the way through his chest, or if it wasn't in too deeply so that they could pull it back out the way it entered.

"Damn it!" she cursed in frustration upon seeing that its head was barely sticking out from the skin covering his back. "It struck most of the way through. We're going to have to push it the rest of the way and then pull it out through his back. I need you to hold him as tightly against you as you can."

Henry carefully got ready and held their friend close while Hook continued to remain unconscious, and finally Regina snapped the feathered end off, shoved the shaft deeper through his flesh until the arrowhead came far enough out for her to grab hold of, then continued to pull it the rest of the way out of him. Sadly, her efforts to help him was painful enough to awaken him and Hook couldn't help but scream out from the agony from having his flesh torn open deeper until the arrow was out at last.

While Henry laid Hook back down against the ground and continued to hold him to offer him any strength he had, Regina immediately stifled the blood that was now flowing much heavier like she expected it to with the torn cloths, then she looked into her son's eyes as she pulled a dagger she carried on her and stated quietly, "Henry, I need you to take this and heat it until it's blazing hot. We have to cauterize this wound, or he'll die from blood loss. No amount of rags will be enough even if we had more. Hurry."

Hook finally opened his eyes weakly and looked into hers the best he could through blurred vision, then through his pain he answered, "It's… it's okay. You ca… can do what… you have to do. I've felt the pain… from having a wound caut… cauterized before. When I lost…"

"When you lost your hand," Henry finished for him when Hook couldn't speak any longer. "The same thing was done to Killian when he lost his hand as well. On his own orders to his men. He would have died if he didn't."

"We'll do it as quick as we can," Regina responded worryingly when Hook closed his eyes once more, though she knew he was still conscious despite his anguish. "We need you to stay strong, Hook. You're going to be alright. You're a survivor, remember?"

Meanwhile, back in Hyperion Heights once again…

Gold arrived back at the police station around ten o'clock after he had met with another of his other street informants aside from Tilly looking for any information at all on either Victoria's, Anastasia's, or Ivy's whereabouts now that all three of them appeared to be missing since Gothel's attack at his evidence locker. Unfortunately, the only lead he thought he had turned out to be useless and the women continued to remain missing.

The Dark One wasn't inside his private evidence locker for any more than a few minutes when Regina suddenly stormed in and angrily slammed her hand down against the table as she shouted, "Rumplestiltskin! I don't have time for your games, or to stand here being insulted by you as you continue to pretend not to be awake. Rogers is in trouble. He needs you to have his back for once."

He looked up at her and then somberly replied, "I have his back. And you're right. I shouldn't go on pretending to be the dirty cop Drizella turned me into when she and Gothel cursed us all here in this vile town."

"Well… it's about time," the former Queen and Mayor answered sternly. "Listen, you have to help me to protect Rogers from Gothel, Gold. He's in far more danger than either of us know."

"I know that when the curse fell over us, the witch added a little something extra into it that has made him irrevocably drawn to her, much like a love potion you see in a number of movies would," Gold responded with concern for his partner. "However, I have also seen him resist her advances on him, which means he still has the instinct inside of him that tells him she is a danger to him. Hook is still in him fighting to break free, only he's buried so deep inside that right now, Gothel's winning."

Regina let out a sigh of frustration and then continued, "His fight alone isn't going to be enough. We have to do more to help him. I've tried to warn him that Eloise isn't the innocent woman she pretends to be and yet he can't seem to grasp it. He's so desperate to help her as though Eloise was his daughter, or like Gothel clearly wants… his lover."

The detective continued to go through the files of those he had on throughout the town while he replied, "I too have attempted to warn him that Eloise wasn't really the woman he's been searching for all this time. But like you've seen, it's as though he cannot believe her to be the villain you and I both know she is."

"When we were in Neverland years ago, Hook had been wounded by Pan protecting Henry," she continued. "However, Pan made it so we were unable to heal him when he neutralized my magic. My point is, we were able to tend to his wound, but when Henry and I slipped away for a moment to talk where he wouldn't be able to hear us, Gothel appeared again and we came back in time to see her kneeling over him. As far as I know, she only helped to heal the wound just enough so that Hook would survive, because he almost didn't. But she threatened him too. She told him she had plans for him that we wouldn't know about until it was too late."

"You've had his hook this whole time?" Regina then uttered when she became distracted from their conversation as she found his metal hook within an evidence bag, mostly buried underneath the piles of papers, files, and other collected items spread out all over the table before them. "Do you think we could use it to wake Hook up somehow?"

Gold reached out to take the hook from her and then answered, "Even if I could somehow convince Rogers that this hook belongs to him and that it's a replacement of the prosthetic he wears rather than a wall ornament, it wouldn't be enough. If we're going to succeed in waking Hook, without the elixir Drizella used on you and you in turn used on Zelena, then I fear it's going to take something dramatic, even traumatic, if we wish to do so. Gothel's hold on Rogers is dangerously strong and waking him through belief is far more difficult when we have no magic to help us. Unfortunately, her magic is strong and growing stronger every day. You know that as well as I. Like I said, I have attempted to warn Rogers of Eloise's dark intentions, but it seems that every time I try, she's one step ahead and somehow always knows when I do. But no more distractions will refrain me from proving to him the truth about who and what she really is come hell or high water. At least to the extent that I can warn him without completely destroying the trust formed in our partnership."

Regina looked at Gold again suspiciously as she asked, "Why is it you've come to be so protective of him? I mean, you've never been all that fond of either version of Hook even if you have taken Alice and Tilly both under your wing. You and Hook never fully trusted one another and yet you seem to trust him now. Why?"

A few nights ago…

 _"_ _I really don't have time for you right now," Gold grumbled curtly when Rogers walked up on him within an alley as he was busy looking for Lucy he night she had fallen ill._

 _"_ _Well, make time," the younger detective retorted curtly as he pulled a piece of paper out from his back pocket revealing a crude drawing of the Dark One's dagger when he showed it to his partner. "Who the hell are you looking for?"_

 _Weaver grabbed the drawing from Rogers' hand and tore it up before gruffly shoving the pieces back at him while he coldly responded, "This is my business, and, therefore, none of yours."_

 _Rogers glared at Gold as he replied angrily, "_ _Says the guy questioning witnesses in my case._ _I've been in your locker._ _You have files on half of Hyperion Heights._ _Now, I can't tell if you're a dirty cop or the best one I know. One minute, you're speaking to me in riddles._ _The next… the next, you're shutting me out._ _Yet I can't shake the feeling that there's something that you want to tell me, so spit it out!"_

 _"I'm looking for someone," the older man finally relented after he hesitated for only for a moment while he considered whether or not he could fully trust his partner standing now before him. "Much as you were with Eloise Gardener."_

 _"_ _What does Belfrey have to do with that?" the younger detective asked in confusion._

 _Weaver answered, "I thought she could help me._ _I was wrong._ _Look, this is… This is really hard to put into words._ _But I've been separated from my wife… Belle._ _And I would do anything to get to her._ _I don't know how else to put it._ _But this… all of this… is in service to that."_

 _Detective Rogers just stared at his partner as he responded, "_ _That is the least believable thing you've ever said to me._ _"_

 _"_ _And yet… And yet I believe it," he immediately continued while he quickly reached out to grab his arm when Weaver started to walk away from him believing that Rogers still didn't trust a word he said to him, despite him finally speaking the truth the best he could, then Gold just stared at his partner with surprise at the next words out of his mouth._ _"_ _Just let me help you."_

 _"Yeah, okay," Gold replied simply without having to consider it any longer, now fully trusting Rogers like he hoped he could since he first awoke as himself once again._

Gold stared down at the pirate's hook still in his hands and answered, "Because Rogers trusted me even when I made it incredibly difficult for him to do ever since he became my partner. And Hook… for whatever reason he always seemed to trust me to look after his daughter despite me being a doppelganger of the crocodile who wronged him, as I wronged the other Hook in love with the Savior."

He was about to say something more until his phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket to alert him to a message he received from another of the officers under him, then after reading the text, Weaver looked once again at Regina as he spoke saying, "It appears I have to go. There has been a murder down at the hospital. I suppose it's time I go and find my partner and get him working on something other than these cold cases that are only helping Eloise."


	9. Chapter 9

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Nine

On his way to the hospital to begin his investigation into the doctor's death, Gold attempted to call his partner numerous times and every time Rogers' phone went straight to voicemail, making the older detective nervous. His instinct was telling him something was wrong. So before driving to the crime scene, Weaver used a program on his phone to locate where Rogers might be, having installed the same program on his partner's without his knowledge in order to keep track of where he was at all times, provided the younger man kept his phone on him.

When he arrived at Rogers' tiny flat, Detective Weaver pounded on the door a few times before he finally pulled a card from his wallet and used it to wedge into the crack between the door and the apartment's entryway, then forced his way inside. Upon doing so, he was surprised to find his partner lying in his bed appearing to be asleep. Only Gold knew better than to trust his eyes. He immediately rushed over to try to bring Rogers around as he laid one hand over his neck and the other over his shoulder, then carefully shook him until Rogers groggily awoke.

The older man looked down on him with concern while he asked, "Rogers… are you alright?"

His partner struggled to clear his vision as he replied, "Weaver? What… what's going on? What are you...? What am I doing here at… my apartment?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" Gold questioned while his partner struggled to stand and observe his surroundings. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"It's… after noon," Rogers answered as he looked down at the alarm clock on his nightstand bedside his bed, then immediately picked up the brace he always wore over his left arm that held his prosthetic hand and worked to pull it on as quickly as he could so they could head in. "I'm sorry. I must have overslept, but I don't recall coming home. I mean… I could have sworn I went into work this morning. In fact, I'm almost positive I had unless... unless I was so tired that I dreamt it."

Weaver watched the younger man finish and picked up the shirt lying out over the chair at the small time within the dining area to hand it to him, then responded, "Actually, I'm afraid you didn't dream it. I haven't been at the station at all yet today myself, but I spoke with a couple of the other men on my way over here to find out if anyone had seen you yet today. They all said you had been there since six o'clock this morning, until you left the precinct around nine with Eloise, who had come in again to see you. Think back, detective. Try to think harder. Do you remember going in at all?"

The dark haired detective lifted his hand to his head while he struggled to do as his partner asked and then replied, "I remember… having a question about a decision I made in regards to a young woman I was trying to help yesterday evening. Most people saw her as a lost cause because she was troubled, but something in me told me she's wasn't beyond help. I ended up releasing her after I had her arrested. However, a part of me felt wrong about it afterwards and so I was reading one of the law books from the precinct… for answers. I was there. And I remember taking a drink of coffee and feeling strange after I did. Dizzy. The feeling didn't last long though. That's it. That's all I can remember. I don't recall meeting with Eloise. The others must be mistaken."

"I guess only time will tell," Gold said quietly as Rogers finally took the shirt from him and pulled it on, then buttoned it up before pulling on his jacket as well. "Are you feeling up to working a case together? I'm afraid there's been a murder. Down at the hospital."

"Take the lead and I'll follow," Rogers answered.

It wasn't long before the two detectives arrived at the crime scene and when they walked in, one of the security officers on duty since seven that morning recognized the officer from before and stated, "Detective… welcome back. It's strange, I didn't see you leave this morning and yet here you are again. Or have you been here…"

Rogers suddenly interrupted, "I beg your pardon, but what do you mean… welcome back? I've never been here except possibly to visit friends or people in my past cases. Certainly not this morning."

"I don't understand," the man responded in confusion, looking at Detective Rogers strangely. "Unless you have an identical twin brother who's also a cop, you were here. A couple of hours ago in fact. You were here with a young woman to see one of the patients here, who by the way is also missing."

"Perhaps if you didn't step outside to take a smoke break when you did, you might have seen the detective leave and we might have known what happened to Doctor Sands," one of the other doctors, who had come on an hour after the murder occurred retorted curtly as she glared at the security guard, until she turned to look between the two detectives while they finally walked into Diana Levinson's room where the doctor's body continued to lie, his head still covered with the pillow used to suppress the sound of the gunshot that killed him, and then bent down to examine him. "In fact, if we didn't have just one doctor on all night long and if I wasn't late this morning coming in to relieve Samuel… That's his name. Samuel Sands."

While Rogers nervously lifted the pillow to look at the entry wound, Detective Weaver turned his head and looked up at the woman standing above him as he asked, "Are you the only doctor presently here, Doctor…"

She quickly replied, "Doctor Tess. Emilie Tess. And for now, yes. I'm the only one on staff. We've been short staffed here in the psych ward for awhile now. We have one doctor on over nights and at least four throughout the day. Unfortunately, today of all days, one of the other doctors supposed to be here now, called out sick. I'm on my own until two o'clock."

"Have you had the chance to look at the surveillance footage yet?" Rogers questioned when he stood and looked around the room until he caught sight of the camera facing the room on the wall just above the door.

"Actually, no," the security officer answered as Gold also stood up beside his partner and examined the camera. "We've been too busy since I called the murder in. The police who called you two in… even a few members of the press, somehow beat you here. They're already claiming it was Diana Levinson who murdered the doctor just after you left, with the other young woman you were with I guess. Without any evidence of course. It makes sense I suppose. She killed a man before. It's what got her arrested and sent here in the first place. Emilie and I have been dealing with too much to even think about the footage from the camera. It looks like that's your job."

Weaver stood as well and then responded, "Thank you, officer. If you would, show us to the office and then leave us alone to examine the footage ourselves."

A few minutes later, the two detectives were sitting alone in the security office as Weaver hit play and together they began to watch the footage from around the time of Doctor Sands' death. However, when the moment came, Rogers slowly rose to his feet again while he watched himself on the screen in horror as he pulled his gun from his holster and suddenly struck the doctor across the side of his head, then saw Sands fall to the ground unconscious leaving behind a large gash.

Gold glanced up at his partner with worry, then refocused on the remaining footage until it finished with Rogers angrily dragging both Eloise and Diana, who stood together terrified in the corner of the room until the younger detective stood again after shooting the doctor, out of the room.

Rogers stared at the screen in shock even after the older detective finally froze the surveillance video, then he stood in front of him while he pulled his keys from his pants' pocket and quickly shoved them into his partner's hand as he spoke sternly saying, "Listen to me very carefully, Rogers. I want you to take my car and leave here right now. Drive to my apartment and wait for me there."

"I can't just run from this," the younger man uttered angrily out of fear as he looked at Weaver strangely until he stumbled back and collapsed in the chair behind him, overwhelmed by what he had just seen, then scoffed. "I appreciate that you think I could be innocent, though I don't understand why. I can't remember much of anything from this morning, the security guard out there said I was here around the time of the doctor's murder with Eloise, and this footage shows I was. The evidence is against me. I just… I don't get why I would kill a man I didn't know. And what about Eloise? And Diana? Where are they? God, Weaver… what the devil have I done?"

"I'm not sure how to explain right now how it is I know you didn't do this, but I assure you that I do believe you're innocent," Gold replied quietly as he pulled the younger man back to his feet and held him tightly by his shoulders to keep Rogers looking at him instead of at the screen. "Remember what I told you on our first day of working together, detective? I told you that I saw in you, a moral code. I caught a glimpse of it that day, but I've seen it in you ever since. And I know you would never murder anyone, nor kidnap two women. Especially when one of them is the very woman you fought so hard to find when she had been taken by someone else. Don't worry about this footage. I will take it with me to have it analyzed by someone I trust in order to determine how it was doctored to make it look like you did all of this. In the meantime, I want you to do like I said before word of this footage or other rumors spread that might try to make you appear guilty to anyone else. I'm afraid I can't guarantee that kind of protection for you when I don't understand yet what it is we're up against here. I need you to trust me. Can you do that?"

Rogers nodded and then answered, "Aye. I do trust you. But hide? If I really didn't do this, I should help you to clear my name, not act as though I'm guilty of these things."

Weaver smiled at him as he was impressed by his partner's drive to face the dangers head on, then he somberly responded, "Not when I suspect that all of this is part of a bigger plan meant to break you. Not just emotionally, but physically as well. I can't explain why. But I am trying to protect you. And having you hide in a place where only I know where you are, is the best option we have for now. Keep your phone on and answer only my calls. I'll be in touch."

Finally, Rogers nodded and left the surveillance office with Weaver's keys in hand while the older detective watched him walk past the guard and through the doctors, reporters, and officers there until he was gone. Gold then went back to the equipment they watched the video with and quickly pulled the footage to take with him in order to do as he told Rogers he would in the hope that he could figure out how it was doctored and who had done it, all the while believing it was somehow Gothel and the two newly awakened witches within her coven who were responsible for framing his partner.


	10. Chapter 10

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Ten

When he left the hospital himself, having asked another one of the officers there to drive him, Weaver headed back to his partner's apartment mainly to pick up Rogers' car so he would be able to drive himself around until he met back up with him. He also hoped the coffee cup Rogers mentioned he had drank from earlier that morning after it was given to him by Eloise might still be around. Thankfully it still sat within one of the car's cup holders. If his luck held out, Weaver expected he'd be able to use it to help prove Rogers had been drugged, in an effort to clear his name. Finally, the senior detective drove back to the precinct and looked for one of his more trusted officers aside from Rogers to help him process the evidence.

After Gold spoke with the officer about what he needed from her, he then asked if she had managed to get a location yet on Victoria using the tacking device he had planted within the bracelet she had once given to him shortly after they had become cursed to try to frame Henry for theft, to which the officer told him no location had been found yet.

They worked for nearly an hour looking over the surveillance footage while the computers processed the remaining contents within the coffee cup in search of any drugs or fingerprints that would prove Eloise gave it to Rogers, which would give Weaver the means to be able to arrest her at the very least. With the footage he hoped he'd be able to find evidence it was altered to make Rogers appear as though he killed a man, then kidnapped two women right out from under the noses of a security officer and a doctor.

"If this video was doctored at all, whoever did it did the best job I've ever seen," the female officer said quietly in frustration. "There's no evidence showing other than what we've seen on this tape. I'm sorry, detective. But it looks like your partner isn't the man you thought he was."

"You're wrong about that," Gold answered quietly, watching again as Rogers knelt over the dead man and fired the shot which killed him. "Most of the time he's a better man than I and he deserves to have someone believe in him now. Which I do."

The other cop nodded and was about to assure him she would keep working, until a knock sounded at the office door as the desk sergeant stepped in, then looked at Weaver while he asked, "Where've you been? Have you seen the news just now? It turns out that your new partner is every bit the loser the rest of us all thought he was before he supposedly found that missing girl. Someone turned footage from a surveillance camera at the hospital into the news station showing Rogers killing a doctor and kidnapping Eloise and another woman who was locked up there in the psych ward. You made a mistake to think he was the right man to become a detective."

When Gold felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and looked down at the screen upon pulling it out, he quickly turned to the officer whom he trusted and motioned for her to trace the incoming call, then glanced back at the other as he replied, "I don't have time for this conversation right now, desk sergeant. Just know you shouldn't believe everything you see on TV."

"Detective Weaver here," he then stated once he was alone to answer his cell after it rang several more times, indicating that the unknown caller really wanted to speak with him.

"I was beginning to think you weren't going to pick up, detective," Gothel responded smugly on the other end. "It would have been a mistake if you hadn't. Tell me… What did you think of watching your partner murdering the innocent man at the hospital on the surveillance video? Do you like how I've made everyone, except perhaps yourself and the other so called heroes in this town, believe Rogers is a murderer?"

Gold stared coldly ahead of him as he answered, "It must have taken a lot of magic to do it. The question is how. From the smugness in your voice, I'm guessing whatever you drugged him with was a potion that actually made him do the deed against his will, rather than simply just changing the video to make it look like he did it. You must have put him in some sort of trance like state. Why?"

The witch smiled and then cruelly replied, "First… yes, I did slip him a potion in his coffee that I gave to him this morning. Yesterday, I used my feminine wiles to plead with him to take me to see my poor friend in the hospital with a sob story I knew his good heart and my curse over him couldn't refuse, then today I practically dragged him there. And once I enacted the potion with a kiss, I ordered Rogers to kill the doctor so we could escape from the ward free and clear with one of my sisters in tow. The effects didn't last long, sadly. But they controlled him just long enough. If you think you'll be able to prove Rogers is innocent, you will find it'll be difficult. Impossible even. Because he did do the deed and you won't be able to make everyone within the police force believe in magic. As for why… I did it to ruin him. Hook is supposed to be living a cursed life. A dark life. I didn't expect you to make him detective and your partner before you awoke, Rumplestiltskin. Nor did I expect Rogers to resist me as much as he's been fighting to do. I underestimated the pirate still inside of him, but it won't be long before that changes. I thought you should know. And by the way, tonight will be the night of Anastasia's initiation into our coven and her chance to become the Guardian. Also, if you're still looking for Victoria and Ivy, you needn't any longer. Soon they won't be your problem anymore. Goodbye."

After she hung up, Weaver immediately started towards the exit to the station while he called the officer once more to ask if she got a location from the trace to which she gave him an address like he hoped. He then made a quick call to Rogers as well and told him to meet him at the address given to him, but not to go inside without him. However, as Gold was about to walk around to the driver's side of his partner's car to get in, the vehicle suddenly exploded, the implosion knocking him back hard through the windshield of the car parked behind him, which caused him to lose consciousness upon impact.

Across town…

Rogers left Weaver's apartment upon receiving his partner's call and drove to the location sent to him through a text on his phone. Once he arrived, he discovered it wasn't a building he had come to, but the entrance of an old, long time condemned subway tunnel that hasn't been used in many, many years.

The younger detective remained seated behind the wheel of his partner's car and waited as he asked him to, while Rogers looked around for any sign of trouble that might be lurking nearby. He kept glancing down at his phone for any message from Weaver when far more time passed by without him meeting him there than what he expected from the man. The longer he waited, the more on edge Rogers grew. His instinct was screaming at him that something was wrong. Unfortunately, he just didn't know exactly what it was that was wrong.

Detective Rogers was about to leave to find Weaver, worried that something bad was preventing his partner from meeting him there, until all of a sudden, a woman's scream cried out from somewhere within the tunnel and instead, Rogers didn't hesitate to investigate in hope of saving whoever it was despite Weaver's warning for him to not go in alone.

Rogers immediately pulled his gun from his holster, even though a part of him shook in fear at the thought of using the weapon again after having watched himself murder an innocent man earlier that same day and having no memory of doing so. However, someone was in trouble and as a detective it was his duty to protect and serve. Therefore, his duty overpowered that sense of worry as he cautiously walked deeper through the tunnel until he came to its end when it opened up into a large dimly torchlit room.

Inside, Rogers watched while remaining hidden from behind the brick entryway while the women he knew as Maggie Dawson and Diana Levinson dragged in Victoria and Ivy Belfrey to an altar within the center of the room, then were tied down on top of it beside one another despite their struggle against their attackers.

"Please don't do this!" he then heard Ivy cry out as both Eloise and Victoria's older daughter, Anastasia walked into the room from another tunnel. "How could you betray me like this! After all these years… what happened to our sisterhood?!"

"The sisterhood between you and I ended the moment you darkened your heart when you killed the man you were to marry," Gothel responded darkly, sending a cold chill down Rogers' spine as he struggled to listen closely to the conversation going on between the women who appeared to be preparing themselves for something evil he never expected could come from Eloise Gardener. "I only kept up with this pretense because I needed you for when I was able to revive your biological sister."

Victoria looked over at her oldest girl fearfully as she pleaded, "Anastasia… you don't have to do this. You don't have to help them in this… this witchcraft. If you give into the darkness too, then you won't be able to become the Guardian they claim you can become."

Rogers heard Diana answer, "Don't worry, Madame Belfrey. Your daughter won't be the one who kills you and your other daughter. We get to have that honor. But Anastasia must be released from her loyalty and all ties to those she still loves if she's to become a part of our coven. She is the true witch more powerful than you could have ever dreamed to be had you been born with the power inside you."

"Are you sure this is really… necessary?" Anastasia nervously questioned when Gothel took the large dagger the young woman was holding, then turned towards the altar and moved to stand over the two struggling women now bound tightly against it and helpless. "I know that you and the rest of your sisters are the only ones who can help me get a handle on my power… but I…"

"Love is weakness, Anastasia," the coven's leader replied darkly, as Rogers struggled to understand what he was seeing and hearing while the woman he strangely couldn't help but to trust above anyone, yet felt an unnatural connection to for so long, finally revealed her true colors. "Only once you are free of your mother and your sister by birth, then will you be free to be who you are really meant to be. This ritual will do this. Their blood needs to be spilled in order for us to recognize you as one of our coven of eight."

When Gothel raised the blade over Victoria to kill her, as both women upon the altar cried out once more, Rogers suddenly stepped out from the shadows of the entryway as he fired his gun to knock the dagger from Eloise's hands, then shouted, "All of you, get down to the ground on your knees! Do it!"

Victoria turned her head towards him as she uttered in relief, "Detective Rogers… thank God you're here."

"You may have fooled me into believing you were women who needed my help, but I won't hesitate to shoot you if I have to," he continued while he kept his eyes trained on the woman of his cruel affection as she saw in them fear and the despair of her betrayal. "Please Eloise… or whoever you are… please don't make me hurt any of you."

"What are you doing?" Minerva cried angrily when their leader began to cut away the ropes from their captives until Ivy and Victoria both finished working to free themselves, then ran past Rogers as he beckoned them to run without looking away from the other women before him. "You're going to let them go?"

Gothel smiled coldly as she responded, "It won't be hard to find them again and get them back. We will finish what we started tonight."

Rogers finally fired his weapon once more, only this time at the implement holding one of the torches on the wall to knock it off so it set fire to the room, allowing for him to escape after the hostages, when Gothel shouted, "Stabbingtons! I want Detective Rogers! Alive!"

"Keep going," the detective ordered the Belfrey women while he kept pushing them onward through the tunnel he came down towards the street, until a large brute wearing an eyepatch over his left eye caught up to him as he suddenly struck Rogers down from behind with a club to his right knee.

However, he immediately stood again despite feeling the searing pain where he'd been hit, to fight back against his attacker while he raised his gun at the man. Unfortunately, Rogers was taken by surprise once again when his shot went wide as another brute with a long scar along the right side of his face quickly charged the detective from the side, then began to beat him while Rogers struggled against them until he fell unconscious.

"Stop!" Gothel forcefully called out when she and her sisters finally appeared among her thugs brutalizing the man who ruined Anastasia's initiation into their coven and helped Lady Tremaine and Drizella to escape. "I want him alive. He's mine to do with as I please. Believe me, you'll come to see it will work out better for us to keep him. We need someone to use as leverage against the heroes still trying to defeat us. Forget the fire. We've been compromised here. Bring him."


	11. Chapter 11

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Eleven

When Gold finally awoke after he had been knocked unconscious by the blast of what he figured was a bomb placed under Rogers' car, he struggled to regain his bearings as he heard and saw a number of people surrounding him and the scene before him. Cops, firemen, rescue workers, paramedics, and several onlookers intrigued by the excitement of the explosion. He also found himself lying on a gurney as two paramedics worked on checking his vitals for any injuries aside from what was most likely an obvious concussion and the gash across the left side of his forehead. His head hurt, but other than that he would count himself lucky were it not for him being the Dark One.

Finally, he ignored the paramedics trying to help him as they objected when the senior detective slowly rose from off the gurney to stand on his feet, then one of the officers under his charge spoke up with concern for him saying, "Detective Weaver… I'm pretty sure it's protocol for you to go with the paramedics back to the hospital in order to be more thoroughly checked out. You should stay down."

Gold shook his head and pulled off the bandage that had been wrapped over the gash as he crossly responded, "I assure you, I'm fine. Besides, I have more important matters to attend to right now. How long have I been out?"

"About forty-five minutes or so," the desk sergeant answered gruffly as he bent down to get a better look at the partial license plate not completely demolished in the explosion and recognized from the numbers he could make out that the car belonged to Rogers. "If you still believe Rogers isn't guilty of that doctor's murder, then maybe you're not the detective I thought you were. He was probably the one who tried to kill you just now, knowing you were for some reason driving his car."

"Believe it or not, but someone went through a lot of trouble to frame Rogers and then tried to kill one of the few people in this town who happen to believe he's innocent," Weaver replied in his partner's defense. "Which I do believe. Just do your duty and figure out what caused his car to explode and who might have done this, desk sergeant. While I try to find the doctor's true murderer as well as my partner. Right now, I fear he's in real trouble."

At last, after he had left the explosion scene outside of the police precinct, Weaver finally arrived at the location of the address he had sent to Rogers as well, having borrowed another of the police cars from the station, and found himself at yet another chaotic scene of a fire, where a condemned subway tunnel burned hot as several more rescue workers, firemen, and policemen ran around trying to keep any onlookers back and to bring everything back under control.

The detective rushed over to one of the other officers as he pulled out his badge to show who he was, then immediately asked, "Do you have any idea what happened here? Was there anyone inside, or any wounded?"

The man glanced towards the two parked ambulances nearby while he responded, "When we arrived here, only two women who claimed to have been abducted were found wandering around by the two officers still with them, who happened to be passing by this site when it erupted in flames. They're over there. Good luck trying to talk to them. They've been more busy arguing with one another, rather than trying to explain to us what else happened here."

"Well, Victoria…" Gold stated snidely once he walked over to the first rescue vehicle to find the business woman sitting inside looking disheveled and covered in soot and grime from the fire, as much as he was. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to see that you're still very much alive."

"Detective Weaver," she uttered quietly as she raised her head to look down at him when he appeared before her, and straightened herself up. "You look about as bad as I do. What happened to you?"

Gold looked sternly at the evil woman while he answered, "I'm the one asking the questions here. What happened, and where have you been? I'm guessing one of Gothel's captives along with your daughters?"

Victoria scoffed and then replied, "Daughters? If you can even call them that. Which I can't any longer."

"Because I'm the poor, pathetic child whose mother never held her enough, and Anastasia's now the daughter who just stood above us dumbstruck as three witches were about to sacrifice us on an altar so that she could become the most powerful of the witches, except perhaps Gothel herself," Drizella continued once she had walked over from the second ambulance with a blanket draped over her shoulders after having been checked out herself. "And Anastasia's no captive among them. Those witches revere her. Gothel betrayed me and stole my powers to give them over to her."

"So how did you escape?" the older detective asked curtly, as he looked up at the paramedics and then motioned for them to walk away while he questioned the women, hoping they weren't really paying close attention to what had already been spoken. "Was my partner here?"

Lady Tremaine looked away from him while she callously responded, "It was Detective Rogers who made it possible for me and Ivy to escape from them. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't so lucky."

Gold glared up at her as he questioned again, "What do you mean, he wasn't so lucky?"

"He came down into the old subway tunnel with his gun raised and shouted for Gothel to stop as he shot the dagger, which she was about to plunge into my mother's black heart from her hands," Ivy answered. "She then untied us so we could run past Rogers, knowing he would shoot her if she didn't. Words were spoken, Rogers told us to run, then I believe he fired another shot at one of the lit torches to set the room on fire so that he could escape after us too."

"Yes, but I believe I heard Gothel shout out to a couple of goons working for her and they suddenly came from nowhere and attacked the detective," her mother added quickly. "We didn't really see them, other than that they were huge, and bore tattoos on their arms matching the same one worn on the dead man Rogers found poisoned to death by Ivy."

Weaver looked down as he replied, "The symbol of their coven. No doubt these men were a couple of their protectors, or slaves working under them more like."

Victoria nodded and then responded, "Precisely. Gothel called them Stabbington. Only she added an 's' at the end of the name."

"Then I know of them," the Dark One answered crossly. "I've had a run in with them before. They're brothers. I appreciate the information. Perhaps if you care to help me find my partner, then you'll come to me with any more pertinent information you might think of if any comes to you."

"I believe we've given more than we should have, Detective Weaver," Ivy replied cruelly as she stared at him with a smugness in her eyes. "I may feel a little more lightheaded than I thought. I'm going to go back to my ambulance to lie down. Good luck. I doubt he'll still be the same man you knew if you do."

Victoria did the same as Ivy walked away, so knowing he wouldn't get anything more from either of them, Gold too walked away and returned to his car with the idea to return to the station again to try to gather some men together to help him find his partner. However, he knew no one else trusted Rogers, especially not after the earlier news report shown from an anonymous source. So, instead he drove back to Roni's bar, where he knew he could count on the only two other people who trusted and knew who Rogers really was. Regina and Zelena.


	12. Chapter 12

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Twelve

"Are you ready?" Regina asked their wounded friend worryingly as Henry pulled the freshly sterilized knife from the flames of their campfire and handed it over to his mother, then quickly unbuckled his belt so that Hook would have something to bite down on while they worked to save his life. "I wish there was another way, but…"

"It's like… like I said, this isn't the first… time," Hook weakly replied while he looked up into her eyes, as the Queen gently took his hand in her own and squeezed it tightly. "It's okay."

When Regina released him as her son settled the folded leather belt between Hook's teeth, then Henry took over holding him for her, she breathed in and out deeply like Hook did as well. Without anymore hesitation, Regina pulled away the cloth she was holding over the arrow wound and laid the knife across it as the blazing metal seared his flesh, causing Killian to cry out in anguish through the belt while Henry fought to hold him down. When his blood finally slowed, she pulled away the blade and tossed it aside on the ground in anger over what she was just forced to do.

Henry loosened his hold over their friend, then Regina continued taking care of what little more he could for the wound and once she finished, she laid her hand over his cheek as she spoke again quietly saying, "You did good. The worst is over. You just have to do your part and keep breathing."

The pirate captain stared up at the dark skies above them until he finally just closed his eyes while he weakly responded, "Aye. I've lived and survived… for cent… centuries. I should be able to… for a few more years. Did you get… the waters? From the spring? Please… tell me we didn't come to Nev… Neverland for nothing."

"I'm afraid that Gothel followed us here and used her power to steal the magical elements of the spring before I could collect the waters we needed," she answered reluctantly and looked into her son's eyes for any small comfort. "I'm so sorry, Hook. And now, we're trapped here without magic and without a way home. But I promise you we will find a way."

"I fail… failed her," Killian whispered while tears began to fall from the corners of his eyes, though not because he was in pain, but because he felt nothing more than hopelessness. "I failed my daughter. I won't ever… be with Alice… again."

Regina struggled to keep from letting her own tears fall as well upon seeing the despair in his eyes, as she shook her head and worryingly replied, "Don't do that to yourself. You can't give up, Hook. We were so close."

The wounded man slowly opened his eyes again, yet he stared up at the sky again like before while he responded, "We've been close before. And that witch… she knows it. She's been… a step a… ahead… of us… She won't allow me to be with Al… Alice again."

"I mi… might as well be… dead," Killian despondently added as he weakly turned his head to try to look up into Regina's eyes and saw a single tear slip down her cheek despite her efforts to hide it from him. "It's the least I deserve… for failing to be… her father."

"You've never failed Alice, Hook," Henry answered for his mother when she struggled to think of the right words to say to him until she swallowed back her tears.

She then continued softly, "Henry's right. You haven't… and your daughter knows you haven't. She keeps coming around our camp just so she can see you, even if it's only from a distance. I've seen her around a few times. She wants to make sure you're alright. You can't give up now. You can't die here. Not in Neverland of all places. Because if you do, then she'll feel she's failed you too and it will destroy her. I know you don't want that. You have to hold on and keep fighting, Hook. Remember what Emma said to you when she healed your wound and you came face to face with her and your other self."

 _The infamous pirate from the Wish Realm struggled to remember back to that moment when he heard his doppelganger from Storybrooke speak to the Savior with steadfast belief in her as he whispered, "If it were me, you'd find a way._ _Find the part in him… the part that's me."_

" _Hey," Emma then stated as she moved around her husband and knelt down in front of the man she knew from her own brief time within the world where he came from, while she shook him gently in order to get him to try to focus on her. "Killian._ _You don't know me, but I know you._ _The man I fell in love with…"_

"… _until we met, he was you," she continued after glancing back at the man she loved until she turned back to the broken man in front of her._ _"_ _Which means there's hope._ _All you need to do is believe."_

 _When her husband's other self began to falter and lose consciousness, Emma shook him once more as she urged him to fight saying, "Hey._ _Hey, just look at me… and believe."_

 _The Savior at last lowered her hand down over the knife wound in his stomach and gently began to heal it as Wish Hook gasped, at first in pain until it slowly subsided, and then in relief and once she finished when the wound was healed, he looked up into her eyes while he whispered gratefully and with sincerity, "Thank you."_

Hook slowly slipped into unconsciousness once again while Regina and Henry raised their heads and looked into each other's eyes with worry for their friend. She then motioned for her son to stand and follow her into the forest again close by so they could be free to talk more openly while they gathered food the forest provided for them without disturbing him.

"He's too weak," the Queen said wearily, as fear for the wounded man grew rapidly within her. "If my magic doesn't return soon… I just don't know if he has enough strength to hold on for much longer, Henry. Not so long as we're stuck here in this hell, surrounded by nothing but evil."

"You have to follow your own advice and believe harder that he has the strength to stay alive long enough for us to get him home," Henry replied sadly. "We will get him home, Mom."

Meanwhile, while mother and son momentarily stepped away from the captain, Gothel appeared again and knelt down as she leaned over him to kiss Hook's lips, then whispered darkly, "You and I have been together once, Captain. One day, we will be so again. Even if it's by my force that we are."

She then lowered her hand over the wound that had been created by Pan's arrow to begin to heal it, causing Hook to gasp and cry out in pain, yet not fully awaken, and upon hearing his cry, Regina and Henry immediately ran back into the clearing to find the witch still kneeling above him as the Queen angrily shouted, "Get the hell away from him!"

"Have you already forgotten you have no power, Regina?" Gothel questioned snidely as she rose to her feet once again, while the good witch attempted to ignite a fireball in her hand out of instinct to want to protect their friend, though to no avail. "Don't worry about him too much anymore. He'll be alright provided you can eventually find your way off of this miserable island. I've healed his wound just enough so that he won't die as soon as he would have despite your own ministrations. I can't have him dying yet. I still have plans for him. Keep on allowing yourself to fall in love with him, Regina. Don't pretend that you're not, because I can see it in your eyes every time you look at him. Every time you lay your hand over his to comfort him and in the way you speak to him. But know that you will only wind up with having your heart broken. Hook belongs to me. And one day I will claim him one way or another, even if it must be against his will. In fact, I prefer it being against his will."

"I won't let you hurt him anymore than you already have," Regina responded angrily as she suddenly backhanded the villainess hard much to Gothel's and Henry's surprise, the ring the Queen wore cutting deeply across her left cheek as she did so. "He doesn't, and will never love you, if that's what your twisted and sick intentions for him are. Hook is a good man and you can't destroy that. You won't. Because I will protect him."

Henry quickly corrected her saying, "We will protect him. Villains will never get their happy endings no matter what you do to try. Now leave. Unless of course you're feeling generous enough to help us get back home too."

Gothel sneered at the younger man and then answered coldly, "I'm not feeling that generous, boy. You may believe now that it's impossible for someone like me to gain their happy endings, but then you've never met someone like me before. I will do whatever it takes to get what I want. When you see her again, tell my daughter that her mother says hello. And that her father won't be able to fight for her forever."

With that said, Gothel suddenly vanished from before them and Regina immediately took the witch's place at his side once again so she could examine the wound, finding that Gothel had spoken the truth about healing his wound just enough in order to keep Hook alive for some time that was unknown. Henry knelt down over their friend as well and despite feeling a small sense of relief that he was alright for now, the feeling didn't last.


	13. Chapter 13

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Thirteen

Gold pulled up outside of Roni's bar and took a few moments to sit in another detective's car to try to think how to tell the women he expected to be there about Rogers' abduction, as he knew they would be angry and believe he had let their friend down when the younger detective needed him most. If truth be told, he blamed himself for his partner being taken too. Since learning what had happened to him, Weaver couldn't help but wonder if he made the right decision to call Rogers to have him meet him at the location and immediately regretted he had.

He walked inside and upon seeing the Dark One enter, Regina quickly stepped out from behind the bar with a bottle of whisky in her hand and strode towards him as she angrily called out, "Where have you been? I've been trying to call you for the last hour. Do you have any idea what happened to your partner? Someone's done a hell of a frame job against him. I saw the news footage over and hour ago thanks to one of my patrons talking about seeing on the news that some cop had killed a doctor at the hospital. Wasn't that the murder you went to with Rogers earlier? Where is he?"

Weaver groaned in frustration as Zelena walked out from the room in back upon hearing her sister raising her voice, then gruffly answered, "Perhaps if I could get a word in… I've been busy. A lot's happened. Unfortunately, I fear that Rogers has been… abducted. By Gothel and her sister witches whom Rogers has inadvertently helped her to wake."

"What?" the Queen uttered fearfully while she stared at Gold in disbelief. "What happened to you trying to protect him?"

"Believe me, I have tried," Gold responded somberly while he looked between the women until he collapsed into a chair at one of the tables beside him when a wave of pain from being blown into a car's windshield earlier by the bomb. "But you're right. I haven't protected Rogers well enough."

Upon examining the filth and grime covering him and seeing how stiff he was carrying himself, the former wicked witch replied, "Something tells me he's not wrong, Regina."

She then turned back to him while she quickly asked, "What happened to you?"

"After seeing the footage for ourselves earlier at the hospital before someone had released it to the press, I told Rogers to take my car and hide out at my apartment and assured him that I believed him to be innocent," Weaver answered wearily, then looked up between the two women now standing above him again until Zelena knelt down to try to check him over for any wounds and found his chest was covered in bruises. "Don't worry, I'm fine. I still heal quickly. Anyways… I told Rogers to wait for me to call before doing anything. It wasn't long after I saw the footage of the doctor's murder on the news myself that I received a call from Gothel and she told me she had been responsible for drugging him early that morning, which allowed for her to manipulate Rogers into committing the murder, under a trance he had fallen under. He had no memory of killing the man thanks to her. Gothel wished to brag about what she had done, not only to my partner, but that she planned to bring Anastasia into the witches' coven tonight. Luckily for us, her plans were thwarted thanks to Rogers. Only, I'm afraid that by doing so, it allowed for her to abduct him as well. I was able to trace her call so I could get a location on her, then called Rogers to have him meet me there. I told him not to go in without me there to back him up, but he must have heard either Victoria or Ivy scream and felt he had no choice but to try to help them. They were about to become human sacrifices you see."

"That doesn't answer my question about how you winded up getting hurt, or why you called Rogers in at all when he was already in danger thanks to that evil witch, who gives us good witches a bad name," Zelena responded snidely when she stood again beside her sister.

Gold sighed again and then continued, "I hoped that perhaps if Rogers saw the truth about who Eloise really is, then maybe it would be enough to awaken Hook. By seeing her performing an act involving witchcraft that is. Or at the very least… that it might help him to rid himself of his uncontrollable obsession with Eloise Gardener. Unfortunately, I was held up when a bomb planted within Rogers' car, which I was driving as Rogers had mine… blew up and rendered me unconscious for awhile. When I came to, I got myself to the location to meet up with Rogers as soon as I could, but by the time I arrived, the old subway tunnel was on fire and my partner was already gone. Victoria and Ivy both admitted that Rogers had rescued them and helped them to escape, which they did. Rogers wasn't as fortunate. I found them there are the scene still as they were being treated by paramedics. According to them, the witches were about to kill them in a ritual that would have severed all ties between them and Anastasia so she could become one of them and in time… the Guardian as well."

Regina let out frustrated sigh, then she urgently replied, "We have to find Rogers. Where would those witches have taken him, Gold? Surely you have some idea."

"Where is Detective Rogers?" Tilly then shouted angrily when she suddenly burst through the front door of the bar and rushed towards the older detective she had worked with since before she ever met his partner. "We were supposed to meet up for our daily game of chess over forty minutes ago. But he never showed and it's not like him. I finally went out to try to find him, until I saw on the telly through a store window that he's been accused of murdering some doctor and of abducting Eloise and one of the hospital's patients locked up in the psycho ward. It can't be true. I don't believe he would kill anyone like that. And after all the trouble he went through trying to find Eloise, he would never turn around and kidnap her himself."

"Tilly, just calm down and listen to me," Weaver answered when he stood as well as the young woman came up to him. "You're right. Detective Rogers would never do those things and we all believe he's innocent. He's been framed, yet I'm not sure how to prove it. But first we have to find him."

She looked at him with confusion and in concern as she asked, "What do you mean, find him? Is he alright?"

Regina shook her head sadly and with worry she responded, "We believe he's been kidnapped."

"We don't too many details just yet," Gold quickly replied with a partial lie in order to avoid revealing that he had been taken by three witches, one of whom happened to be the very woman Tilly had tried to warn him against only days ago out of worry for Rogers. "Only that he had been taken when rescuing Victoria and Ivy Belfrey from their own abductors. I'm going to find him, Tilly. And we're going to prove him innocent as well. But if I'm going to do that, I am going to need your help once more. You just have to assure me you will work with me this time if you wish to join us in helping him. Not alone like you've always done until now. Can you do that? I don't want to see anything happen to you as well. More importantly, Rogers would never forgive himself if anything happened to you in trying to save him."

"I never should have resisted when you asked me to work with you a few days ago," she answered regretfully while she looked between the three heroes she was standing among. "It's like I told you then… I want to help him. This time, I will do whatever you need me to do. What do you need from me?"

The Dark One smiled while he glanced over at Regina and Zelena, then turned back to his informant as he pulled a cell phone that wasn't his own to give to her and responded, "I need you to remind me why I made you my number one informant in the first place. Go walk the streets and look for information about two men who may go by the name of Stabbington. They are apparently twin brothers. One has a long scar across his cheek and the other wears an eyepatch. Both men are believed to have the tattoos like the one on the back of the ogre statue you brought to my attention. If you learn anything, call me on this phone or come to me with any information. You cannot attempt to help Rogers alone. Have I made myself clear?"

Tilly took the phone from him and worryingly looked between the senior detective and the two women, one of whom she didn't recognize as she hadn't yet met her, then took a moment to think it over before she finally replied, "All right. I'll do it. I'll get in touch with my usual contacts. Thank you, Weaver."


	14. Chapter 14

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Fourteen

Late into the evening…

A knock sounded at the door of the cabin that resided miles from town where Gothel set up a lair for her and the coven of eight for once they were found. The old subway tunnel had been where she had found the Stabbington brothers lying low in order to remain hidden from the police after they had robbed several shops all throughout Hyperion Heights, including two jewelry shops, an antique shop, a pawnshop, a music shop, and finally a liquor store, having gotten away with well over two million dollars in fine jewels and gold and silver coins. Their cursed personas were hardly any different than their true identities. Only now that they were both awake, they were smarter and once again two of the coven's muscle and bodyguards.

When Minerva stepped up to the door to answer, she opened it up for another of their protectors once the man before her pulled back the sleeve of the uniform he wore to reveal the tattoo of their coven he bore on his right forearm to prove he belonged. The more enticing and beautiful of the witches smiled at him and suddenly pulled him against her to kiss him, while he hungrily kissed her back until she finally pushed him away again.

"Even though I'm grateful you showed me your loyalty is still to our coven, I don't need to see your tattoo or the news to know your heart still belongs to me," she whispered seductively as she traced her finger along his chest. "It's good to see you again, Gabriel Burke."

"Please… Burke is the name I was given when I became a security guard for that flea infested hospital ward," he responded and then followed the woman he longed for further into another room within the cabin. "It's just Gabriel again. Like the archangel Gabriel. Where's Gothel? I have some news she may want to hear. About Rogers and Weaver."

As they walked into the largest of the four rooms inside the cabin, the oldest of the witches and Gothel's most trusted friend was speaking with Anastasia until she replied for her sister, "Gothel's busy at the moment. She will be for awhile actually. Whatever you have to tell her about the detectives can wait."

The man glared down at the woman he had looked after within the psych ward for several months while he answered curtly, "You should know that I succeeded in doing what you witches asked me to do. I turned the video tape from the hospital into the news station after Gothel altered the footage to make Rogers look like a murderer, then I kept Weaver busy for you while you performed your sacred ritual. I planted a bomb in the younger detective's car he had been driving. It obviously didn't kill him, but it kept him out cold."

"Gothel will be very glad she chose to wake you then," Draya responded, seeming not to appear too impressed.

"I knew you wouldn't let us down," Minerva replied while she took his hand into her own. "Unfortunately, your efforts went to waste. Because it turns out it wasn't just Weaver we had to worry about. Rogers turned up in the subway tunnel as we were preparing to sacrifice Lady Tremaine and her youngest daughter, Drizella. He saved them and helped them escape."

She turned to her other sister again, then added, "It was a mistake to let them go. You and I both know Weaver won't let the out of his sight now that he has them in police custody. And he'll never release them to us."

Draya stood face to face with Minerva while she answered smugly, "Why do you think Gothel had us bring Hook… Rogers with us? We can use him to convince the Dark One to turn them back over to us if he and the other heroes care at all for their friend."

"That… and to have her way with him," the younger of the witches snidely retorted. "A part of me is jealous. But the other part of me thinks she developed her own unhealthy obsession with that pirate. It doesn't matter how good looking he is."

"You don't have to agree with her on everything, Minerva, but you do have to follow her," her sister responded adamantly. "We all agreed long ago that Gothel is the strongest of all of us and that we would follow her until our coven is no more. She's never let us down and you know it."

Minerva sighed in frustration upon going over this with Draya again and again, then she replied, "Like I said before, I never disagreed with you about that. Gothel is as much my sister as she is yours and I love her as you do. However, not even sisters agree with every decision we make. You've certainly proven that more than enough times in regard to the decisions I make."

Draya glanced at her sister's choice of boyfriend amongst the rest of the men she's seduced and then answered snidely, "Present company included. But… at least he's loyal to our coven and has returned to help us to find the rest of our sisters. Good work, Burke."

The security officer glared at her while he sneered, "It's just Gabriel."

Meanwhile…

Inside a private room, Gothel walked out from the bathroom after fixing herself up for her night with the man of her own dangerous desires. She then sat down on the side of the bed where Detective Rogers still laid unconscious since his abduction down in the tunnel, while he stared down at the pained features adorning his face with morbid glee in seeing him laying before her so helpless, until she at last reached out and tenderly began to caress his cheek in an effort to rouse him. However, when he didn't come around, she reached over him to pick up the basin of water she had poured on the nightstand, then tenderly continued to minister to cuts and bruises he received in his fight against the Stabbington brothers.

A large dark bruise ran across his left cheekbone, and a small, yet deep gash now ran halfway along his right cheek from the side of his nose. The worst of his wounds though were his ribs, as she could feel that a few of them were broken, while others were fractured and saw it had caused his left side to become dark purple in color.

While her magic was slowly returning to her the stronger she and the coven of eight became as her sisters have begun to come together again, she was still weak in this world and so healing his ribs and bruises took time and strength, which was why she could only use her power to heal the breaks while the rest she tended to without magic.

Finally, most of the darkness from the bruises was gone and she could feel that the broken and fractured bones within his chest were healed as much as she knew they would be from her care. Slowly, Rogers began to come around at last and once he struggled to clear his mind and vision, it didn't take long for him to remember his attack when he saw Eloise leaning over him as he was lying on a large bed shirtless, with his wrists and ankles bound to the headboards by cords too tight for him to break free from.

"Just take it easy," Eloise whispered gently, as she traced her fingers gently over his cheek once more. "I promise you, you're going to be alright. You're perfectly safe here with me."

"Eloise… What… why have you done this?" Rogers uttered weakly as he tried to fight against his bonds. "Where am… where am I?"

She laid her hand over his chest to calm him and responded smugly, "Someplace where your partner won't be able to find you. And it's miles away from everyone, so no one will be able to hear you try to cry out to them, or to help you should you manage to escape from these bindings."

Rogers stopped struggling to preserve what little strength he felt and looked coldly into the woman's eyes while she continued, "This isn't how I was hoping we would come to this point in our relationship…"

"We're not in any kind of relationship," he firmly interrupted her before she could finish talking about them as though they were anything more than a cop who saved her life and a woman he believed to be in distress. "I thought you were in danger. I've spent the last several years of my life beating myself up and losing sleep because I thought it was my fault you disappeared that night. I believed you to be an innocent woman looking for one person in this world who cared about what had happened to you. I never thought you would turn out to be a woman who practiced in the art of witchcraft and human sacrifices."

"That's one of the things I love most about you, Detective Rogers," Gothel replied while she ran her fingers up and down the contours of his chest, making him feel even more uncomfortable than he already felt. "You're a white knight. I find it the strongest quality you possess, and I'm very much attracted by it. Or at least… until I finally snuff it out so that you and I will finally come together as we always should have been."

Rogers looked away from her and closed his eyes in an effort to not feel the dread and yet the arousal also beginning to creep up within him from her seduction, then she answered strongly, "You and I will never be together. I'm a detective and I've vowed to try to protect as many people as I can from those who threaten to do them harm. People like you. You're a murderer."

The coven leader suddenly grabbed his chin and forced him to look up at her as she angrily responded, "And now so are you. Or at least as far as everyone here in Hyperion Heights believes, including your own partner and the friends you think you've made since you were made detective. That woman from the bar downtown, and the young man who's been busy weeping in the hospital over a child who isn't even his."

"You were never supposed to discover the truth about who I really am," she then said more tenderly once she calmed herself and continued to caress him. "I only ever wanted you to fall. So far, so that given time you would have no choice but to come to me and I would have taken care of you. You're mine now, detective. And I don't plan on letting you go until I've finished with you."

Before he could reply, the woman he believed to be Eloise Gardener, leaned further over him and began to kiss him seductively despite his resistance against her advances. The more he struggled, the more passionate she became until she finally sat back, then stood up beside him and slowly pulled the silk black robe she was wearing until she wore nothing at all.

Gothel then wrapped one of her legs over so that she was sitting on top of his stomach while she pulled a syringe from the nightstand and suddenly injected its contents into Rogers' neck, causing him to cry out upon feeling the needle jabbed into him and the drug burn its way through his blood. It wasn't long before he began to feel strange as the room dangerously spun around him, then he soon found that he could no longer resist the woman now on top of him while she continued to kiss him in between pulling away his own remaining clothes, so she could make passionate violent love to him against his will as she's longed to do since their first night together all those years ago.

Eventually she was able to remove his restraints because he couldn't move as he felt paralyzed throughout his entire body, yet he could feel her own against him as she continued on for what felt like an eternity once the drug eventually wore off well into the night. The longer she made love to him, the more shame he felt for allowing someone he had obsessed over himself destroy him with every kiss.

"This has been one of the best nights of my life thanks to you, detective," she whispered to him again at last when his humiliation finally ended as she slowly rose her upper body off of him, then continued to sit over his stomach again while she looked into his vacant eyes. "If you're wondering what it was I injected you with… it's actually something wonderful created right here in very world. A miracle drug Maggie discovered you call ketamine. It does wonders to loosen a man up. I do hope one day that we'll come to the point when you won't need to be restrained and drugged any longer, but until then…"

All of a sudden, as Gothel finally rose off of Rogers and began to get dressed into the dress she had laid out for herself earlier, she was interrupted when both of her sisters entered the room as Minerva spoke up curtly saying, "I'm sorry, sister. But you need to know that Anastasia has run off."

Draya also added, "She was talking about wanting a chance to talk with her mother and sister again to find out how things have come to be as they are, especially between them."

"Don't worry," their leader replied callously and then turned around to face them once she finished. "She'll be back. After Anastasia made no move to stop me from killing her mother and sister, they will never see her as their daughter and sister again and she will realize that we're the only ones who will ever love her the way she deserves to be loved. And she longs for the power she's felt inside of her, even if she doesn't yet understand it. In time, she will. Don't worry. She will come back."

"And what of Lady Tremaine and Drizella?" Draya then asked, not with contempt, but out of curiosity as to what her Gothel's plan was. "They're now in police custody, which means that Weaver will be keeping them close. Not for their protection, but to try to prevent us from finishing Anastasia's initiation into our coven. If we're to succeed in doing so, we need to spill their blood."

Minerva continued, "Draya's right, Gothel. If we have hope of reuniting our coven, we will need to trade Detective Rogers here and demand Weaver to release them to us. Rogers is still our bargaining chip against these heroes… isn't he?"

Gothel then angrily shouted, "When I'm finished with him! We have time. We know the Dark One won't let Victoria and Ivy out of his sight so long as they're in his custody, and he won't be able to find us here unless we want him to. The heroes know they can't do anything to break the curse because they care about Henry and Lucy, and there are still four more of our sisters out there waiting for us to find them. Anastasia's initiation doesn't have to happen tonight. As for Rogers… if you're worried that I feel some fatal attraction for this pirate, I assure you you're wrong. All I want is to destroy him, which I have begun to do."

"Perhaps it's possible Rogers can still be of use to us in our search for the others after all," Draya said again when an idea suddenly dawned on her as she looked between their leader and the barely conscious man still lying naked on the bed, unaware of the conversation being spoken around him. "Do you still have those vials you brought back with you from Neverland?"

"I do love how your twisted mind works, Draya," Gothel answered with a cruel smile. "It just so happens… I do."


	15. Chapter 15

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Fifteen

Down at the precinct, Anastasia walked in feeling unsure about her decision to leave the witches to find her mother and sister, especially since she had been a part of a ritual that almost resulted in their deaths. However, she also knew from listening to the women she's been staying with since she had been brought back, that the detective in charge around town was keeping her family close in order to keep his eyes on them, and that he wasn't the sort of man who would have told the rest of the cops under him about the magic the coven were trying to bring back into a non-magical world.

She didn't want to be there and risk running into Detective Weaver, but she knew she had to find out once and for all if she, her mother, and her sister could be a family again, or if she was meant to become a part of the coven like Gothel assured her was her destiny. Little did she know that while the senior detective wasn't there right then, the female officer Gold trusted enough to help him knew very well the older Belfrey daughter was a person of interest even if the rest of the police force didn't, and that she had called Weaver right away to let him know she had just walked into the precinct.

Anastasia finally walked up to the receptionist desk where the desk sergeant was sitting eating his dinner despite the lateness of the hour, then she nervously cleared her throat and spoke up saying, "Excuse me, Sir… I was hoping you might be able to help me. My name is Anastasia… Anastasia Belfrey. I'm Victoria Belfrey's oldest daughter. I believe she and my sister, Ivy are here. I was told they had been in a fire."

The man stared at her strangely until he snapped out of his surprise and then laid down the fork he was holding while he replied, "Yes. Uh… I believe they are currently in separate rooms talking with other officers about what occurred tonight. Only, you should know they weren't just in a fire. They told the paramedics on the scene that they had both been abducted and then rescued by another of our officers."

"If you wouldn't mind having a seat in one of the chairs over here while I go have a word with the cops talking with your family…" he continued when he came around the receptionist area, then gently guided the young woman over to the chairs nearby. "I'll be sure that someone will be right with you."

"Thank you," she whispered, then watched him walk away and began to wait like he requested of her.

It wasn't any more than a few minutes when another officer, the woman working under Weaver, came over as she reached out her hand to the young woman to introduce herself, then stated, "Good evening, Miss. Belfrey. I'm Officer Andrews. If you would like to follow me, I can take you to see your mother and sister. I've put them in a room together and thankfully unlike before, they've fallen silent. They really don't like each other, do they?"

Anastasia followed after her as she shook her head and answered, "I wouldn't really know. I mean… I've sensed it since I've started to get to know them again, but I haven't really had the opportunity to really know for sure. I was in a coma… my mother said. For the last few years."

"Yes, I'm sorry," Andrews responded quietly, then they arrived outside of the room and guided her inside.

"What are you doing here?" Victoria asked snidely upon seeing her oldest come in behind the officer, then waited for the stranger to leave again before saying another word. "I'm surprised you would have the gall to show your face around here of all places. It's a bit risky, is it not?"

Drizella glared at her while she questioned curtly, "Where are your new sisters? Or do they not even know you've risked all they've been working for so you can come all the way down here just to realize what you already know. We're never going to be a family again. We hardly were before you even fell through that ice."

Their mother immediately snapped at her youngest as she said, "I warned you never to mention that night again. You promised me you would never speak of it."

"I only told you what you wanted to hear so that you wouldn't shun me anymore than you already did back then," the younger woman replied angrily. "You've never loved me like you loved your precious oldest. It just took me a little longer to finally admit the truth I knew all along."

"I didn't come here to bring up the past again," Anastasia cut in again before the argument between them escalated even farther. "I came here because I was hoping we could look towards the future and put the past behind us. I wanted to know if you could forgive me for what I've done tonight and I will help you… Mother, and Dri… Ivy… I will help you to fight against the witches. I just want to be loved. I want to be a family. Please."

Ivy scoffed at her sister's plea and then answered, "I don't think so. We're way past being a family we never were to begin with."

Lady Tremaine spoke up again as well saying, "For once I actually agree with your sister on this. As far as I'm concerned, you're dead to me… my precious daughter."

Anastasia fought back the tears that welled up in her eyes and then suddenly ran from the room and through the station until she ran right into Detective Weaver who barred her way on the way out. He grabbed her arm gruffly and nodded his head in gratitude towards Officer Andrews, then shoved the young woman forward until they wound up in an interrogation room.

"I will ask this once and if you cooperate with me, I will do everything I can to help you through this difficult time in your life," the senior detective forcefully stated after turning off the microphone within the room so that no one outside of it could hear their conversation. "Where is Detective Rogers? Where is my partner?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she responded coldly as he forced her into the chair behind the table and stood over her, then she turned her head away from him to avoid looking into his eyes. "If you're looking for him, perhaps you should try calling him on those black devices you all use for talking now."

Weaver glared down at her until he sat across from her while he replied, "Don't pretend I don't know you were there in that subway tunnel tonight with the other three witches so they could attempt to bring you into their coven. Gothel told me as such. I also know that Rogers came down to rescue your mother and sister. If anything tragic happens to him, you will fall before you even get the chance to become one of them, or the Guardian like they want for you."

Anastasia finally looked into his eyes and said more firmly, "You will have to find Rogers without any help from me. I suggest you let me leave, detective. Because you know what I can do if you don't. You said it yourself, I'm the only one of us in this room who has powers and you saw how powerful they are. Don't let me go, and I will unleash it throughout this building. It will create a panic among all of your police friends as well as everyone else around just outside."

After a few more minutes of trying to convince Lady Tremaine's eldest daughter to help him, he finally had no choice but to release her like she demanded in order to keep her from following through with her threat. Then he guided her back through the station and walked her outside, where he was surprised to see the security officer from the psych ward sitting in his car waiting for the young woman to come out. And without the proof he needed in order to arrest the guard, Gold knew that he was the one responsible for sending the doctored footage showing his partner as a murderer and a kidnapper, as well as for the bomb that kept him from protecting Rogers when he needed him.

When Burke saw the detective had seen him, he grinned at him smugly and waved, then motioned to Anastasia to come along. Once she got in, they drove away and while every part of the Dark One wanted to follow after them, Gold knew that he would never be able to help Rogers on his own without the help from the few allies he had in Hyperion Heights, especially without magic to back him up against those who did possess it.

Back at the witches' cabin…

The Stabbington brothers finally returned after they had gone out to get themselves something to eat and to bring back food for the women they worked to protect. Maggie let them inside as she had with Burke earlier, while Draya questioned them about why it took so long for them to come back.

"It doesn't matter why," Gothel uttered before they could say anything, then faced them when she spoke again. "Did you at least keep your eyes on the Dark One for me?"

"Like you expected, he drove to Roni's Bar to talk to its owner and some redhead," the man with the scar along his cheek answered while he handed Minerva the bags with food in them. "We ate at the diner across the street and watched him. You should know that some blonde haired teenager eventually showed up too and she didn't look too happy. She appeared to scold the detective about something."

The other brother with the eyepatch continued, "You should know she didn't stay long before she left again. But we discovered she's now out walking the streets looking for my brother and me, and for any information on the detective's whereabouts."

Gothel smiled and then responded, "I figured she would eventually wind up out there. I know how much she cares about him even though she has no idea Rogers is her own father. This is good. Minerva… why don't you return to your spot on the streets where you shopped for your men to sleep around with. Look out for that girl and when you see her, give her the information she's looking for. She doesn't know you yet and therefore she won't recognize you. Let her know exactly where she can find Detective Rogers. We'll take care of the rest."


	16. Chapter 16

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Sixteen

Tilly arrived in the darker side of town after talking with a number of past contacts and others living on the streets for information that would hopefully lead her, and therefore Detective Weaver, to the men he believed was responsible for kidnapping Rogers. So far, she didn't have much luck despite sharing the brothers' descriptions with as many people as she could. Either people on the streets really haven't seen these two brutes with quite the reputation for being thieves according to the senior detective, or they just didn't care to help her. Tilly understood well enough about living among them to know it was more because they weren't interested in sharing information, especially if it led to saving the life of a cop.

The young woman once from Wonderland and other places, was trying to talk with a homeless vet and his son when a woman Tilly knew right away to be a prostitute called out to her and motioned for her to come talk with her. When the vet and his son refused to talk anymore to her, Tilly turned towards the other woman and reluctantly walked towards her until she was standing a few feet away.

"Hello, sweetheart," the prostitute stated while she continued leaning back against the brick wall where she was standing as she looked into Tilly's eyes. "Around this part of the neighborhood, people call me Maggie. I've heard rumors about a young woman going around looking for a couple of thugs. I take it that's you."

"I'm looking for them because I believe they're responsible for the disappearance of a friend of mine," Tilly answered sternly, continuing to keep her distance.

Maggie nodded and then replied, "There've been a lot of people going missing from these streets. For a long time now. I take it whoever you're looking for is really important to you? Do you have a picture of her… or him?"

The teenager shook her head, then responded, "No… I don't. And he's not from the streets. But I'm actually looking for information about the men who might have abducted him earlier this evening. They're brothers. One wears an eyepatch and the other has a scar along his cheek. They're big guys. Please… if there's anything you might know…"

"I don't typically get involved in people's problems because I find the less you do, the longer your life tends to last among these streets," the witch answered coldly as she rose away from the wall of the building behind her, then wrapped her arm around the young girl's shoulders before offering Tilly a cigarette, which Tilly quickly turned down. "It's dangerous out here and I can tell that you know that as well as I do. However, I also know what it feels like to lose someone you care about when there's no one else who cares whether you live or die. However, it turns out I happen to know exactly who you're talking about. I slept with both brothers on more than one occasion. If telling you where you might be able to find them makes it so that they're arrested for kidnapping or anything else… then I would be more than happy to help you. I hope you have someone who can help you against those pieces of scum should you find them, and therefore your friend?"

"I do," Tilly eagerly replied as Maggie pulled out a napkin from the purse she wore over her shoulder, then took a pen from one of the other women standing around them and finally began to jot down an address before handing it over to the teenager. "Thank you. I'm afraid I have nothing I can give you in return for your help, but…"

Maggie grinned smugly and then responded, "Like I said, I'd be happy to see those two brutes go to prison. Then they won't be back here again to bother me. If you can see to that, it's all the thanks I need. Good luck finding your friend."

Tilly finally walked away and started back towards Roni's across town while she pulled the phone Weaver had given her, then quickly hit his name within the few contacts programmed in it to dial his number and when he picked up after the second ring, she spoke to him curtly saying, "I might have just figured out where the brothers are hiding out. If you're not still at Roni's place, get back there now. I'll be there as soon as I can."

She didn't wait for him to say anything more except that he would meet her there before she hung up on him, then she continued walking away from the women who sold themselves to men for money and sexual pleasure each night. Once she was gone, Maggie smiled again and then took out her own phone to call her sister witches, to let them know Weaver would be arriving at the address she had given to the teenager very soon.

A short time later, Tilly returned to Roni's where the bar's owner, the red haired woman she had seen there earlier, and Weaver were waiting for her. Regina didn't miss how the young woman who was Rogers' daughter was looking at Zelena strangely and realized that Tilly wasn't sure she could trust the other woman well enough to talk freely.

"This is Kelly… my sister," Roni immediately said as she laid a hand gently on Zelena's shoulder to indicate who she meant. "It's okay. You can talk in front of her. She's a friend to Rogers too like we all are."

"It wasn't easy finding anyone willing to talk," Tilly then began while she looked around the room between them. "I finally spoke with a prostitute who claimed she's been with both these Stabbington brothers more than once. She doesn't hold a high regard for either one of them. She gave me an address to an apartment where she said they might be hiding out. She's hoping her information will lead to you finding and arresting them so that they spend the rest of their lives in prison."

When she handed the napkin over to the senior detective, Weaver stared at it for a few seconds until he looked back over at Tilly and answered, "You've done good. Let's hope this leads to us finding Detective Rogers too. Tell me, did the woman who gave this to you… Did she go by the name Maggie by any chance?"

The teenager looked at him strangely as she uttered, "Yes. I believe she did. Does it really matter?"

"No, I don't suppose so," he replied. "You should get going. It's late and you're here in a bar, which you really shouldn't be. I'll investigate this information you brought for me."

"I don't think so," Tilly retorted more firmly. "I'm coming with you. Detective Rogers is my friend. I could have gone to that address without you, but you told me we were going to work together to find him. I want to continue to help you find him. Please, Weaver. I promise, I won't get in your way, nor will I risk my life trying to fight against these brutes if they're there. But I can take care of myself. I have been for a long time. I just don't want to be asked to stay behind while I wait for any news."

Weaver let out a sigh of frustration while he looked into her eyes and saw her determination, then he turned to Regina as she responded, "Tilly's right, Weaver. She has every right to help us all the way until we find him. She's as much Rogers' friend as we are. We can look after her. I am going with you. Kelly will watch the bar for me and call me if she comes across any information. And if the brutes are at this address when we arrive, and they attempt to attack us, you can shoot them."

He finally relented as he then answered, "Very well. But Tilly, you are to do exactly as I say and I want to hear no arguments from you. It's as I said before, Rogers wouldn't want to see you get hurt. Now… let's go."

Once they pulled up outside of the fleabag motel that belonged to the address given to them, Gold, Regina, and Tilly all walked inside the lobby where a sleazy looking man in his fifties was sitting behind the receptionist desk until he looked up to see a man he immediately recognized as a cop by his reputation and stood to greet them.

"Welcome, officer," he stated smugly as he looked over at Roni and smiled, making Regina feel sick to her stomach more than she had from the look of the interior, as the room was dirty with scum and trash all over. "And Ma'am. What can I do for you tonight?"

"You can give us the room number belonging to these two men," Gold sternly replied when he slammed a paper showing the Stabbington brothers' mugshot photos, in order to turn the man's attention away Regina. "I don't doubt that they're here, or at least keep a room here as I understand they're here quite often with hookers and perhaps other women. I suggest you cooperate, or I will call my men at the police station and have them come down to tear this place apart looking for all kinds of illegal activity I don't doubt goes on here."

The manager quickly grabbed a room key from off the wall behind him and handed it over to the detective, then uttered, "It's room fifty-five. Second floor, down the hall. But I don't think you'll find them up there right now. I saw them leave again not that long ago. They came in here with a friend of theirs and two women. They went up, then they came back down a short time later, all except for their friend who was being dragged between them. They said he was passed out drunk and drugged up. I didn't ask anymore questions, but I'm guessing their friend's in the room right now sleeping off whatever he's on."

Regina quickly grabbed the key from Weaver's hands and started up the stairs as he and Tilly both followed after her. When they came to the door, she paused a moment while she looked over at her friend and then finally unlocked it to walk inside. Once she did so, she and Tilly both let out a sudden gasp in shock upon finding Rogers inside as he was trussed up with thick leather straps around his wrists and hung from the ceiling fan directly above him, his bare feet not even touching the ground. Thankfully he was wearing his shirt and jeans he had been wearing the last time they had seen him, but his clothes were disheveled like his hair, and the three of them could see cuts and bruises all along his face, neck, wrist, and his only hand.

Gold was the first to rush over to help his partner, followed quickly by Roni as he forcefully ordered, "Tilly, I need you to leave now. Go back to my car and wait for us there. We will out as soon as we can. Go, now!"

As much as she wanted to, she didn't argue with Weaver and she ran from the room in horror at the sight she had just seen, while the two heroes carefully worked to lower their friend down from the ceiling, then gently laid the unconscious man down on the floor so they could look him over for anymore wounds aside from the obvious they couldn't see.

"We need to get him to the hospital," Regina said worryingly as she laid two of her fingers to Rogers' neck to feel for a pulse and felt that it was there and steady, while the senior detective first worked to continue to untie his wrists. "He's burning up."

"We won't be able to protect him from Gothel and the other witches as well as we could if we were someplace of our own, where we can care for him ourselves," Gold retorted in frustration. "On top of that, if we were to bring him to the hospital to be treated, I would be obligated to place Rogers under arrest, seeing as we still haven't found a way to prove his innocence in the doctor's murder. At least by not making it known to everyone that we've found him, we can go on pretending he is still missing."

When Roni finally lifted up Rogers' shirt to get a look at his chest and stomach, their eyes darkened upon seeing a small knife wound in the left side of his stomach just above his pants line, as well as sickly black striations barely beginning to grow which they both knew very well, and the detective spoke again coldly saying, "Besides… we both know that the dreamshade flowing through him now cannot be treated by normal medicines anyways. It appears that Gothel's managed to gather herself a souvenir from your adventure together in Neverland before she came back."

All of a sudden, Gothel appeared in the doorway as both Regina and Gold spun around to see her standing before them when she responded, "They may not be able to heal Detective Rogers, but I can. All I ask is that you give into my demands. I don't doubt that you will. If you care for him as much as you claim."


	17. Chapter 17

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Seventeen

In Neverland years ago…

Back in Pan's camp deep within the island's forest, the Lost Boys gathered themselves together once more while they discussed a new plan to attack and kill the three heroes who had foolishly come to their realm seeking the waters from the magical spring that now no longer contained its power which brought that power to the rest of the island and to them. Felix led them in their uprising, as Pan had remained scarce since their first attack because the boys were angry. Angry that one of their oldest enemies had brought the Evil Queen and another warrior there to pillage from them, but also equally as angry because they knew now they would all age and that their leader was once again just a boy who would eventually grow up despite what all the stories ever written and told about him said.

At last, Felix shouted, "First we find them wherever they've run off to hide. And then we charge them with no mercy! We will cut them down and leave their bodies to rot where they fall."

However, it was then that Peter Pan appeared among them as he walked into their camp rather than fly in, or simply magically appear as he's always done before on account of his weakness now that his strength and magic was fading, and upon hearing the boys' lust to kill Hook and the others with the pirate, he spoke up to them firmly saying, "Now is not the time to rush them and attack. Captain Hook is wounded and while my arrow wasn't coated with the island's dreamshade, the wound was nevertheless a fatal one now that the Evil Queen is without her own magic for as long as my own lasts. Hook will die before that happens. I want them to mourn for their loss. And then we will charge in and kill her and that warrior with them."

"Pan!" Felix immediately cried out worryingly when their leader suddenly doubled over again as he gasped in pain, then lifted his right arm out in front of him when Peter could feel his magic leave him just a little bit more, while he watched in fear and anger as his hand began to whither and age. "What's going on? What's happening?"

"I'm becoming the old man I was when I first returned to Neverland so long ago," he responded weakly. "Back when I rid myself of the child who kept me from becoming my true self. Unless I find a way to restore the spring's magic, I will eventually become Malcolm once again."

Suddenly, the witch whom Pan had recalled seeing up upon the top of Dead Man's Peak in the midst of their battle against Hook and Henry, appeared among them as a bout of thunder and lightning struck, and before the Lost Boys could attack her, Gothel used her power to knock them all to their feet including Pan, then she turned to their leader while she said quietly, "That doesn't have to happen, if you are willing to discuss a deal I have to offer you."

Peter struggled to rise again to his feet while he glared up at the witch and then he questioned, "And why should we listen to you? I'm guessing you're the witch… the one whom the Evil Queen called, Mother Gothel?"

"She's hardly the Evil Queen any longer," Gothel answered snidely and then began to walk around among the boys surrounding her without any fear. "She's become a bit of a goody goody actually. It's a terrible shame really. But yes… I am Mother Gothel. I am a mother to many because I can tend to their needs… in many ways. Just as I can now tend to yours."

"We don't need a mother to look after us," Felix retorted angrily as she turned to look at the taller boy who stepped forward to stand beside his leader. "We've gotten along just fine without one for nearly two centuries."

The witch nodded, then replied, "Yes of course. I simply meant that I can help you so that your lives will once again be restored in the state they were before the heroes arrived here, as will Neverland. All I need from you is a promise… that you won't harm them so long as they're trapped here on this island. Should the magical properties that belong to the spring, all will go back to the way things are meant to be, including the Queen own power as well which will allow for them to return home to our land."

Peter looked at her more closely as he stared into her dark eyes and then asked, "Why do you care that they survive and return home? If I were to agree to this, how can you do all that you just said?"

"I care about the heroes surviving because I have plans for them, especially Captain Hook," she responded crossly the more she had to continue to explain herself, then finally pulled the small black stone which the magic of the spring became after she removed them and showed it to the boys' leader. "And as for restoring your strength and power, this stone now contains Neverland's magic. I stole it before Regina could gather enough to help Hook with I problem I made for him years ago. You see, his heart is poisoned so that he cannot ever be near his daughter again without death claiming him. And believe me, it has caused him much pain and heartbreak. You ought to be happy about that."

"Hook has a daughter?" one of the other Lost Boys asked in disbelief.

Gothel nodded and then answered, "Yes he does. Thanks to me. But my point is that you can have everything back. I just need you to leave the heroes alone. I promise you, I will see to it that they all are punished… but in a way that I see fit. They will all suffer in a plan of my own design. Do we have ourselves a deal?"

Pan reached out to try to take the stone from the witch's hand until Gothel immediately pulled it away from him, then stated, "If we have a deal… your island's power must be restored only by me. It won't work for you."

"Let's just see if you're speaking the truth," the leader replied coldly. "If your magic can do as you claim, then we will have ourselves a deal."

Without another word, despite the boys' cries in objection to the deal, Gothel suddenly waved her hand and together she and Pan vanished from before them, then they reappeared upon Dead Man's Peak as Pan demanded of her. He then watched as the witch walked through the parted dreamshade plants that once blocked the path leading to the island's spring, then knelt down above it as she tenderly dipped her hand holding the stone into the waters and used her powers to summon Neverland's magic back to where it truly belongs.

"It's finished," she whispered without standing again, then raised her head to look up at the boy above her as Pan felt his own magic returning to him and watched as his hand was restored to its youthful state like the witch promised him. "How do you feel?"

She then stood again with Pan's help while he responded gratefully, "Never better. You did as you promised you would. I'll keep my word too. Will this be the last we'll see of you here in Neverland?"

Gothel grinned cruelly and answered, "This is your world, not mine. One I wish never to see again."

"It has that affect on many who come here that don't belong," Peter Pan replied while he reached out his hand for her to shake as a way of saying goodbye. "I hope you continue to make Captain Hook suffer. He was someone who never appreciated what Neverland gave to him. And in the end, his many years here in my service was all for nothing, as he eventually gave up his revenge on his crocodile. I don't really care what happens to the others."

"Whether you do or you don't, I assure you they will all suffer," the witch finally uttered and then suddenly vanished from before him as thunder and lightning cracked around him once more.


	18. Chapter 18

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Eighteen

Meanwhile…

Miles away from where Pan talked with Gothel until she vanished from Neverland once and for all, Regina and Henry continued to look after Hook while he continued to fall in and out of consciousness since his friends cauterized the wound through his chest. His fever had spiked and they could hear him mumbling within his fevered state, though they could barely make out what he was saying. All they could really hear was that he spoke of his daughter and that he was still blaming himself for failing her despite their efforts to assure him he was wrong.

In what felt like days to them, only hours passed and while the witch had healed the damage caused by the arrow enough to keep Hook from death, both Regina and her son were still afraid for him. Mostly because they didn't trust that Gothel hadn't done anything more to hurt him despite appearances.

"There has to be something more we can do," Henry finally said with frustration, finally breaking the long silence that had fallen over them. "It's ridiculous just sitting here as we wait for Pan and the Lost Boys to attack us again. Or for Gothel to make another appearance. There has to be another way for us to get home. Hook needs to get out of here now."

"Believe me, I'm feeling just as useless and restless as you are right now, but I've tried to summon my magic," Regina curtly replied, as she struggled to ignite another fireball in the palm of her hand to test Pan's magic keeping her from being able to do so. "Over and over, but nothing's working. I can feel it inside of me, but I just can't bring it out. I feel like Emma did all those years ago. Only I actually want my powers. She just wanted to keep them suppressed even if she knew bringing them out were necessary to try to defeat Zelena then."

Henry smiled and then he responded, "I can't believe how long ago that was. Some days it feels like it was only yesterday we were all still in Storybrooke together, and yet now I'm in my twenties and am about to get married to a fairytale princess I met in my own travels through magical realms."

When she saw the sadness come into her son's eyes, Regina spoke again saying assuredly, "We're going to get home, Henry. You're going to get married and then one day have children of your own. I know that I've told you this quite often, but I'm so proud of the man you've become. I know that Emma and Hook… both Hooks actually… and your grandparents all are too. And so is your father, Baelfire. Don't lose hope. Your grandmother has given me enough or her hope speeches, so now I can't help but to give them myself."

"They can certain… certainly work… wonders," Hook answered weakly when he finally awoke again and looked up into the Queen's eyes, until he struggled to sit up with Regina's and Henry's help.

"Are you sure you want to sit up?" the young man asked worryingly as their friend struggled within their arms. "You're still pretty sick."

The captain turned to him and then replied, "I assure you, I'm… fine. Or I will be. The pain has lessened… surprisingly. And my head feels more clear… than before."

Regina reached down to take his hand and squeezed it, then with concern in her eyes she responded, "I'm afraid that's because Gothel was here again. She healed you, at least enough so you wouldn't die, but your wound is still infected and you need help. Unfortunately, my own magic is still not…"

"Mom… look at your hand," Henry suddenly interrupted her before she could finish as they looked down and saw that Regina's hand was glowing with light magic. "Your magic… it's back!"

"It is," she whispered eagerly as she finally laid her hands over his chest as well as his back where they had pulled the arrow through, then carefully and gently began to heal the wounds until at last their pirate friend was finally healed, allowing for Hook to let out a sigh of relief once she was finished. "Thank God. Pan's magic must have finally weakened enough for mine to break through again. Either that, or Gothel may have done something. Either way, I don't really care. How… how are you feeling, Hook?"

Both she and Henry helped him to stand on his feet when he started to get up on his own despite feeling so weak, then he smiled at her and answered, "I'm feeling much better. Thanks to you and Henry. I'm so sorry for dragging you both here."

Henry stopped him from continuing on as he quickly replied, "Stop blaming yourself. If anyone has anything to be sorry for, it's Mom and me for convincing you to come here. But let's discuss all of this once we're home. I say it's time we get out of here."

"I couldn't agree more," Regina responded as she pulled one of their magic beans from the coin purse she wore on her own belt, then tossed it into the ground in front of them and they watched as a magic portal opened up. "Let's get out of here."

She and Henry carefully held Hook between them and together they jumped inside, then the portal closed up behind them once they all finally landed roughly on the ground within their own realm just outside of the rebel camp. When they carefully guided their friend still feeling weak despite being healed inside, Ella and Tiana were the first ones to see them return as the women raced over to help them. Jack soon joined them as well while he and Tiana took Hook from their other friends and gently led him over to one of their tents where he could rest, as Ella rushed into Henry's arms and held him tightly in her embrace, feeling relieved to see them finally return home.

"I'm so glad that you're home," she whispered softly as her fiancée held her in his own arms, feeling just as relieved to see her again as well.

When she finally pulled away so she could look between him and his mother, Ella finally asked, "How did your journey go? Is Hook going to be alright? Were you successful in getting the waters for Hook's cure?"

Henry smiled at her sadly and then shook his head as he answered, "Unfortunately, we couldn't get what we needed. We tried to, but like Hook feared, Pan and the Lost Boys attacked us as we neared the peak where the magical spring resided. Mom used her magic to try to get the waters, while Hook and I fought against them."

"But Gothel also appeared, having followed us to Neverland herself, knowing somehow that we found a way that might help us to cure the poison over Hook's heart," Regina replied angrily. "She's either spying on us, or we have a traitor here in our own camp. I'm willing to bet it's more the latter. The protection spells I put up should be preventing her from being able to look in on us."

"I can't believe anyone here would betray us," Jack then responded when he returned to them. "We all hate Lady Tremaine, Drizella, and anyone else working to destroy us all including that witch you've spoken of… as much as you do."

Tiana also reappeared again and she answered, "Why don't we return to the main tent were Hook is now resting so we can discuss this?"

Ella nodded as she looked up into Henry's eyes again and then stated, "That's a good idea. We can talk this out more rationally."


	19. Chapter 19

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Nineteen

In the present…

"What the hell have you done to him?" Regina questioned angrily as she continued to hold onto Rogers, while Gold cautiously stood and moved in front of his partner to show the witch he was willing to risk his life to protect him.

"You mean, other than the obvious?" the witch answered snidely, stepping a few feet to her left so that she could see the former Evil Queen hidden behind the senior detective attempting to block her view of Regina trying to help the man she's been tormenting since their first night together all those years ago in the tower. "We needed a bargaining chip. The dreamshade now flowing through his blood is our assurance to get all that we need from you heroes. Oh… You must tell me, Regina… when you were together for that brief time in your lives, did you and he… ever make love, or give in to your sexual pleasures? We did tonight. And it was wonderful. At least it was for me. Detective Rogers wasn't exactly in his right mind this time."

Gold cut in as he responded, "So… he is drugged then? Just as you told the manager of this establishment downstairs when you brought Rogers in. Was it with a drug of this world, or of ours?"

She smiled cruelly and replied, "Surprisingly it's from here. Ketamine. Don't worry, it was only just enough to make Rogers more compliant. If it makes you feel any better, he struggled against me for as long as he could. He's been fighting harder to resist me despite the special ingredient I threw into the dark curse to make him irrevocably drawn to me."

"What you're doing to him is more vile than anything I ever did when I was still the Evil Queen," Regina said darkly while she glared up at the woman she was fighting back the urge to stand up and hit her like she had done once before while in Neverland. "I've done horrible things to good people, but this… It's sick. Why can't you just leave him alone? Why do you have this need to keep punishing him just because he denied you whatever twisted pleasures and plans you had for him ever since that first night? All because he wanted to care for a child you were willing to abandon and leave to die all alone up in that tower."

"Why did you have the need to make all of the heroes from your own land suffer for all those years just because a ten year old girl accidentally told a secret that led to the death of your first beloved?" Gothel answered cruelly and then stood taller as she finally turned her attention on the Dark One. "Enough of this back and forth. I don't doubt we could go on all day. Shall we discuss demands?"

Gold looked back on his partner and then into Regina's eyes before turning back to the witch before them as he asked sternly, "What is it you want? I've a feeling I know what you're after, but I've learned it's not always a good idea to make assumptions about people. Especially if they're a villain."

She smiled, then responded, "I need you to deliver both Victoria and Ivy back into our hands. You may know thanks to Rogers freeing them what we have planned for them, but know that if you refuse, Rogers will die instead of them. Because without the second vial I have that holds the healing waters of Neverland's magical spring, along with a potion of my own design already blended in that will make it so the cure will not kill him as it did the captain's brother, he will die. Even if you had your magic, you wouldn't be able to save him without me."

"Is that all?" Regina questioned her callously while she glared up at the other woman until the man still in her arms weakly began to stir, but not awaken.

"Actually, no…" Gothel replied smugly. "No, I will be needing something more. From you, Detective Weaver. I need you to find me information that will lead me to the rest of my sisters of our coven. There are four of us still missing. I know you knew who they were when we were living in our own land, so you should be able to find them here in Hyperion Heights too. As the Dark One, you always made it your duty to learn everything about your enemies. Don't pretend I'm wrong."

Gold kept his eyes firmly on hers while he retorted, "You've made it so that your touch was all that was needed to awaken your fellow witches, but perhaps you should have thought to include a way to locate them yourself without requiring the help of your enemies."

She ignored his wisecrack him as she answered, "Neither of you have to give me your answer now. But I wouldn't wait too long, or you'll be forcing your friend to suffer needlessly and his death will then be on you if you refuse to give into my demands. Good luck… heroes."

At last, Gothel left the room to return to wherever she and her coven were hiding, leaving Regina and Gold alone once again with their friend. The senior detective knelt down above Rogers again and lifted his shirt to examine the wound once more, finding that the striations hadn't grown that much more. Luckily his partner remaining unconscious was a small mercy, as both heroes knew enough about dreamshade from their own experiences with it to understand that the more a person who's been poisoned by it moved, the faster the poison within them spreads.

"It's time we get him back to someplace safe," Weaver stated quietly without looking up into the Queen's eyes, while he then made an effort to lift his partner. "We can take him back to my place. No one will think to look for him…"

"No… We can take him back to my bar," Regina interrupted him when she grabbed the other man's arm to keep him from lifting Rogers any further. "It may be more obvious because most of the police force know Rogers comes there often. However, I have a hidden room underneath the floorboards, behind the bar. There's already a cot down there and I've got plenty of blankets, water, food, a first aid kit… It will be easier for all of us to look after him, including Zelena and now Tilly. You know she won't want to leave his side until she knows Rogers is going to be okay. We should get going before she comes running back up here wondering why we haven't come down with him yet."

Together, Regina and Gold carefully lifted their friend between them and carried him out of the motel, ignoring the manager calling out to them when they walked past him. Inside a parked car just down the street, Gabriel sat behind the driver's seat while Anastasia sat beside him within the passenger's seat, as they both watched the two heroes leave the motel with their friend.

Neither of them said anything until Gothel then leaned forward from the backseat of the car after she quietly got in upon leaving the establishment herself and looked over at the young woman learning the ways of a witch as she spoke to her softly saying, "So did you learn all that you needed to know, Anastasia? About your mother and your sister?"

Without returning her gaze, she responded callously, "I learned that they don't love me like I thought. That they'll never love me again. They turned their backs on me, so now I will turn my back on them. I deserve better. You were right all along. I should have trusted you."

"Do you trust me now?" the leader of the witch coven asked as she reached out her hand and waited for Anastasia to take it in her own.

"I do," the oldest Tremaine daughter replied darkly, as she accepted Gothel's hand. "I'm ready to become one of you, Mother Gothel."


	20. Chapter 20

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Twenty

It was just after two o'clock in the morning when Roni and Weaver finally returned to her bar with Rogers once again between them, his arms draped over both of their shoulders. Tilly remained with them like the others expected she would want to, as she refused to leave the younger detective's side because he had already done so much for her. Much to their surprise and concern, Henry was sitting at the bar speaking with Zelena when they suddenly stumbled inside. However, he stood from the barstool as he cried out Rogers' name with shock and concern in his voice upon seeing his friend's fevered state and immediately rushed forward to help him, followed closely by Regina's sister. When they stepped in, Tilly nervously backed off to let the others help Rogers so she wouldn't get in their way.

"My God… What the hell happened?" Henry finally asked while they struggled to carry their wounded friend down the stairs that led to the secret room hidden behind the bar and beneath the floorboards, then gently laid him down on the cot. "I'm so sorry. I should have been here sooner. I've just been so worried about Lucy and Jacinda, hardly getting any sleep these last few days… I didn't see the news until only a short time ago. What they're saying about him can't be true. Rogers isn't a killer, or a kidnapper."

"Eloise Gardener… that's what happened," Gold responded callously and angrily when he too stepped back along with Henry so that the women could begin to tend to him, knowing there wasn't much more he could do for his partner except for figuring out how to clear his name. "She did this to him."

While Roni quickly ran up behind the bar to grab the first aid kit she kept there and a couple of blankets, then returned, Zelena carefully got to work in pulling off the shirt Rogers was wearing. However, upon remembering that Henry and Tilly were still in the room with them, she stifled her gasp and quickly pulled the cloth back down to wait for her sister upon seeing the black growing striations she too knew well enough to know it wasn't a poison of this realm that had made her friend so ill, but one of Neverland.

Henry glanced over at the senior detective strangely as he asked, "What do you mean, she did this to him? Why would Eloise do this after all Rogers has done for her?"

Weaver turned to him as well and replied, "It's called a fatal attraction. Eloise at first was grateful to Rogers for saving her from Victoria, but then her gratitude changed as it grew into desire, lust, and finally a dangerous obsession. She wanted him and because he denied her what she wanted, she has done all of this. Drugged him, framed him for murder and kidnapping in order to destroy everything that makes him who he is, beat and poisoned him before finally kidnapping him herself with some help, then… she raped him. I fear Eloise has come to believe that if she can't have him, then nobody can. Hence what you see before you now."

"She really did all that to him?" Tilly whispered fearfully as she stared down at the man she didn't know was her father in horror, while everyone looked over at the teenager with worry and regret that she was just forced to listen to the Dark One explain in great detail all that Rogers had suffered because of the witch. "I knew she was dangerous. You promised you would protect him, Weaver. But you didn't!"

"Tilly… wait!" he called out as she suddenly ran away from them, then attempted to go after her until Zelena stopped him by grabbing his arm.

He glanced back at the former wicked witch from Oz when she spoke again worryingly saying, "Let me go after her. Right now she's in no mood to listen to you because all she can see is the man she partially blames for what's happened to Rogers. She may not know yet who I am here, but she might talk to me."

Realizing that she was right, as she and Alice had come to know each other fairly well before the curse because of Zelena's daughter, Gold nodded and then he answered, "You're right. Look after her."

"Of course," Kelly stated and left, then Henry moved in to take her place at Rogers' side to help Roni minister to him.

"What do you need me to do?" he questioned when he looked over into Roni's eyes while she looked worryingly into his until she let out a sigh in frustration.

She tenderly laid her hand over Rogers' forehead and could feel the heat of his fever rising against her skin, then she responded, "You know where the kitchen in the back of the bar is? Go up and get me some water so we can help bring down his fever a little."

Weaver looked around at those helping his partner as Henry rushed past him to do like he was asked and then uttered in frustration, "While you're all helping Rogers down here, I'll head upstairs and keep my eyes open for trouble. Just in case. I'm going to think of a way to clear his name. Tilly's right that I did fail him before. I won't make that same mistake again. Let me know if you need my help for anything else."

A few minutes later…

Zelena walked down the street in the direction she saw Tilly run before the teenager disappeared, then finally found her sitting in the park on one of the benches facing the river where she realized Tilly was sitting now because Rogers liked to sit there in order to try to find comfort at times.

"It's probably not the wisest idea for you to come running around theses streets all alone and so late at night," Zelena said quietly as she carefully walked up from behind the young woman in hope she wouldn't startle her.

"I've been living on these streets for a long time," Tilly replied coldly without turning her head to look up at the red haired stranger came she around to stand beside her. "I can take care of myself. It's other people I can't care for. Detective Rogers is proof of that. Not only did I fail to look after him when I refused to work with Weaver to do so, but I allowed myself to think I was his friend and became fond of him. It's not like me to make friends with people and now he's wound up like this."

Kelly slowly sat down on the bench next to the teenager as she quietly answered, "That's not true. All of you have been so quick to blame yourselves for what's happened to Rogers, yet you've all seemed to have forgotten that it's this Eloise Gardener who's to blame for his suffering. She's been hurting him for a long time because she's a wicked woman and until now there's been nothing anyone could do to stop her. Not even he could because he never knew just how much power over him she's had. But now… now we're all here together and we're going to fight for him. That's what friends are for. It's what heroes do."

The younger woman scoffed as she glanced over her and responded, "You certainly think highly of yourself. Who are you anyway? I've only just seen you a few times since you've come back with Roni after she returned from her trip out of this town."

"My name's Kelly," she replied. "I'm Roni's sister, from San Francisco. I have a daughter who's a little bit older than you, but something tells me you would both get along really well. Last I heard, she was in Amsterdam. She's somewhat of a world traveler and free spirit."

"I wish I could be more like that," Tilly stated, until she stood up again to leave, but stopped and turned back around to look into the red haired woman's eyes at last when Zelena talked once more.

She spoke confidently saying, "From what I know about you, something tells me you're more of a free spirit and world traveler than you think. Come back with me to look after Detective Rogers. I know it's where you would rather be. If I recall, Weaver isn't the only one who gave his word to help care for him. Am I right?"

The teenager smiled and then answered, "You're right. I just hope that he'll be alright."


	21. Chapter 21

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Twenty-One

When the leader of the heroes' rebellion entered into the main tent again, followed by Ella, Henry, Regina, Jack, as well as a few others within the camp, the Queen of Storybrooke swiftly made her way back over to Hook who was resting on a makeshift cot until they came inside, then struggled to sit up despite her efforts to keep him lying down for his own good as he assured her that he was really alright again thanks to her healing. Henry also walked over to sit down next him at the bottom of the cot once Hook's feet touched the floor to make room for anyone else who wanted to sit down.

Princess Tiana looked to the three of them who just returned from Neverland as she asked firmly, "Regina, you have accused one of us here of being a traitor, which is a very serious accusation. I'd like to know why you think it's possible. Tell us all again, what happened to you while you were in Neverland?"

Regina looked over at Hook, until Rumplestiltskin walked into the tent to stand with them, then she turned back to the woman standing before her as she spoke up saying, "We were attacked by Peter Pan and his Lost Boys when we finally arrived at Dead Man's Peak, where the island's magical spring resided on top of. Hook and my son remained on the ground to fight them, while I used my power to transport myself to the top so I could gather the water we needed. However, Gothel appeared as well before I could. She used her own power to then expel the magic in order to render the waters magicless. I failed…"

"We failed," the pirate captain quickly corrected her. "I was wounded protecting Henry when Pan attempted to kill him. They cared for me despite that demon using his own magic to neutralize Regina's until his power wore off. She healed me and then we returned home, as soon as we could. They saved my life."

"You saved mine first," Henry replied proudly, patting his friend's shoulder as he did so.

Tiana nodded as she processed what they were saying, then asked again, "And you believe that Gothel being there in Neverland to stop you, is because someone here told her you three were going to be traveling there to collect the magical waters?"

Regina stood up to face her head on while she answered sternly, "I know that the protections spells I put up around this camp, are secure. No one with magic can look in to spy on us. Which means the only way that witch could have known what we were planning… where we would be, is if she has someone amongst us who's been feeding her information. Someone here is a traitor. We need to find out who."

"I can't imagine anyone here would knowingly betray us," Ella responded quietly in disbelief, as Henry reached up to take her hand and then stood beside her. "We're a family and we all fight together for the same cause. Because we can't stand the injustice brought upon us by my stepmother and stepsister. Or by Gothel. There must be another explanation."

"I wish that there were," Henry replied, then looked over at his mother. "Perhaps there's a way we can find out for sure. Mom… do you think you can cast a spell that will expose a traitor amongst us if there is one?"

Jack looked over at his friend of a few years worryingly and then the others, including Hook while he stated, "That isn't gonna be necessary. The traitor is me."

Henry stared at him in shock as he uttered, "I don't believe that. It can't be true. You and I have been friends…"

"For years now," the giant slayer finished for him before his friend could continue trying to defend him. "Look… I didn't want to hurt anyone. I never wanted Hook to be hurt, or for the three of you to lose the opportunity to help him cure the poison over his heart. She didn't say why she wanted to know what you were up to."

"She?" Regina asked crossly while she too stood up and took a few menacing steps towards Jack. "You mean Gothel?"

He nodded and then continued, "Yes. She and Drizella came to me not long after you three and Ella joined our rebellion. At first, they wanted information about all of our plans, but I refused. I could never betray all of you because you're my friends, just like Ella said. You're my only family."

Henry said coldly, "And yet you did betray us."

"No… I betrayed Hook," Jack retorted with a shake of his head and glanced over at the pirate nervously and watched him bow his head after he had seen the sadness in his eyes. "Gothel kept coming to me several times asking me for information. For some reason, she saw that I was capable of doing what no one else here would. I didn't want to believe her at first, but then she made a threat. She threatened me, but I didn't care if she killed me to protect you. However, she threatened to kill Ella too. So… I gave her something else she might have wanted even more. I knew about the witch's obsession with him and I told her I could keep her informed of his whereabouts and his plans. Hook's never really trusted me and he wasn't ever shy about making it known either. We've never really gotten along well, though I'll admit he certainly tried more than I ever did. I'm not proud of what I did, but Gothel left me no choice."

"Now you really are more like Lando Calrissian from _The Empire Strikes Back_ than you ever were… you slimy, double crossing, no good swindler," the hero and Author answered darkly, until his eyes saddened. "Hook is my closest friend and like a father to me, just as my true stepfather is. You knew that."

More angrily, Regina then shouted, "Your choice almost got Hook killed! You made it so that we failed to get the spring's waters needed to help heal his heart. And so that he and his daughter still can't be together."

Jack answered curtly, "I know and I'm sorry."

At last, Hook stood from the cot as well and quietly left the tent to be alone for awhile without a word to anyone despite him still feeling weak as everyone watched him leave, then Henry continued, "You may have been given a tough decision, Jack… but there's always another option. You should have come to us the first time Gothel threatened you and Ella. We would have protected you both as we've always done. But I think I understand why you felt you had to protect Ella yourself. Because you're in love with her too. Aren't you?"

"I didn't realize you knew," he responded in frustration. "Or suspected. I never meant for it to happen because I knew how much you loved her. And she you."

"I could never love you as I love Henry," Ella replied sadly. "Not even before this betrayal. But I did think of you as a good friend. Now I can't think of you in that way anymore."

Jack nodded as he answered, "I know. I also know that I don't deserve your forgiveness for what I've done. However, I really am sorry. Like I said earlier. What's going to happen now?"

Tiana looked between the others within the tent as if to seek their approval for the form of punishment she felt was right and then she sternly responded, "There's more than one way we could deal with this. However, I feel that the best choice for everyone is to inform you that you're hereby banished from our camp and our rebellion. You are not to come back here again. I am grateful for what you've done that's been of help to us, Jack. But we can't trust you won't ever betray us again. If you can prove yourself…"

"I will," he quickly stated, then looked over at his own closest friend again. "You told me that by the end of _Star Wars_ … _The Empire Strikes Back_ , Lando redeemed himself and became a hero alongside the others. I hope to do the same. If you ever need me for anything… if you're ever in a battle where you're outmatched and need me to fight alongside you, I'll be there."

"I hope so," Henry replied, then watched as Jack finally left to leave their camp until his mother walked past him to leave in search of Hook and he immediately followed after her.

Regina was about to head down towards the river that flowed nearby on a path through the woods surrounding them, but her son suddenly stopped her as he grabbed her wrist and put his finger to his mouth to keep her from speaking, then he pointed off in the distance where he saw Alice watching her father from a far distance on the hill she was standing on.

The Queen watched as the young woman finally walked down to talk with Hook while Henry spoke again saying, "It looks like they're going to be needing some time alone."

Regina nodded and faced her son again, then answered, "You're right. Let's hope she'll be the comfort and assurance he needs right now. Especially after Jack's revelation."

"He's going to be alright, Mom," her son whispered quietly. "And later, once Alice leaves him again like she has to, you can be there for him like you have been since we learned she was his daughter he's been trying to find all those years. And I'll go be there for her. We'll find a way to help them."

"I hope so," she responded sadly, then she and her son finally turned and walked back to their camp to give Hook and Alice the space they needed without the two of them spying on them.


	22. Chapter 22

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Twenty-Two

Regina, Henry, Zelena, and Tilly worked tirelessly ministering to their friend while Rogers remained unconscious within the throes of the fever that was plaguing him throughout his body. Henry kept running back and forth getting fresh hot water, while he and Tilly stepped in to hold the younger detective's trembling and writhing body down when his fever spiked, or his anguish became unbearable for him. The women carefully wiped down his body after tending to the knife wound within his lower stomach, which was thankfully not as deep as they initially feared. However, the growing striations, which the sisters continued to keep hidden from those without their memories using a blanket to cover the lower half of his body, were still the biggest concern and they knew there was nothing more they could really do for him, except hope Gold was coming up with a plan to get the cure without them having to give in to the witch's demands.

"So… why is it that we're not taking him to the hospital?" Henry asked in concern for his friend, finally breaking the long silence that had fallen over them since they had first brought him there over an hour ago. "I mean, surely the doctors can treat him much easier than we ever could."

"If we could bring him into the hospital we would," Regina answered sadly, as she dipped her rag she held in her hands into the fresh hot water her son had just brought down for them again and then continued to wipe it across Rogers' fevered brow, along his face, and his upper chest once they stripped him of the filthy shirt he had been wearing since the morning of his abduction. "But right now, Rogers is still wanted for murder and if we did, then Weaver would have no choice but to arrest his partner. We're doing the best we can to protect him and keeping the fact that we've found him a secret from everyone else is almost just as important as taking care of him."

Henry glanced towards the stairs that led up into the main room of the bar while he replied, "I have to admit, I had no idea Weaver cared enough about him, or anybody for that matter, to risk breaking the law by harboring a fugitive even though he does know Rogers is innocent."

Without taking her eyes off of the sick man lying in front of her, Regina responded despondently, "You'll find that he can be full of surprises. Would you… all of you give me some time alone with Rogers? We don't really all need to still be here. If I need your help, I'll call for you. Besides, Henry… shouldn't you be getting back to the hospital yourself to be with Lucy and Jacinda?"

"Sabine is there with them now," the young man answered when he reached out to lay his hand over Roni's shoulder for comfort, as he could see the sadness in her eyes while she continued to stare down at Rogers. "And so is Nick, Lucy's real father. We all saw the news earlier and Jacinda assured me that my place was here for right now, so long as our friend's in trouble. There haven't been any changes in Lucy's condition anyways. I was feeling useless there. At least here I feel like I'm needed."

"You are, but for now if you wouldn't mind checking in with Weaver to see if he's come up with some kind of plan yet?" Roni asked while she finally turned her head to look into her son's eyes, then she reached up to lay her own hand over his that continued to lie on her shoulder.

Zelena stood and then helped Tilly on her own feet as well while she said, "Of course we will. Call us if you need us, sis."

Henry let go of Roni's shoulder and followed after her sister and Tilly, leaving the former Queen alone with Rogers like she wanted, then Regina continued to wipe his face down as she whispered to him gently, "I'm so sorry that there's nothing more we can do to help you. But whatever's happening to you now, whatever pain you're suffering… you have to keep fighting to live. That witch doesn't deserve the satisfaction of knowing she destroyed the good man you really are, Rogers. And you are… a really good man. I can't lose you. None of us can. Your daughter… Tilly needs you. I need you."

"Reg… Regina…" he suddenly uttered weakly when he slowly began to awaken and Regina stared down at him in surprise upon hearing him state her true name and not her cursed name, until her happiness and hope was dashed when he opened his eyes at last, then once again saw her only as the owner of her own bar from Hyperion Heights with the next word from his mouth. "Roni? Is that… You found me?"

"Yes," she replied sadly while Rogers struggled to remain awake as he tried to focus on the woman above him. "Weaver and I… we found you. And Tilly. It was mostly thanks to Tilly actually. You're going to be alright. We're all taking care of you and Weaver is working on trying to take down Eloise and her friends for what they've done to you. I'm so sorry, Rogers."

He spoke again weakly saying, "Don… don't be. She did this. And I all…. Allowed her… to. I was weak."

Regina immediately took his hand in hers as she responded, "Don't say that. Don't do that to yourself, Rogers. You had nothing to do with why this was done to you. Eloise framed you and then drugged you so she could do… all that she did. And if you're blaming yourself because you feel like you should have been able to resist whatever obsession you've been feeling for her, there are circumstances beyond what you can imagine going on because of her. I need you to trust me that there's nothing you should be blaming yourself for. I only wish we could have seen this coming sooner so we could have protected you from this pain."

"I feel as though… as though I've been care… cared for like this be… fore," Rogers continued as he closed his eyes and allowed his head lull to his side, while Regina quickly rinsed out the rag again in order to keep on ministering to him, listening to him speak almost incoherently as she did so. "Nights ago… I dreamt of… of a woman who heal… healed me… as you're… now. She save… saved me."

"You've told Henry and me about this mystery woman from his book," Regina answered worryingly. "The woman who kept you alive long enough for the paramedics to arrive after you had been shot while on duty."

However, he shook his head in an effort to disagree with her assumption, when a sudden pain shot through his body causing him to writhe. Regina grabbed hold of him and held on tightly until the pain passed. Once he settled back down against the cot, then saw that Rogers' eyes were still closed, she gently pulled back the blanket still draped over him to observe the striations and sighed out of worry upon seeing that they were higher up his side than they were the last time she checked on them.

When he was finally able to speak again, though it was difficult for him, Rogers continued, "No… She was… a different woman. Only I can't… can't see her face. I can only see… she had black hair. Radiant… kind eyes. We were surround… surrounded by trees… in a dar… dark forest. She whisp… whispered to me. Telling me not to… give up. That I didn't fail. I feel as though this dream… this other woman… is… more of a strange… memory. She's been my only com… comfort in night… after night of nightmares… and sleep… sleeplessness."

Regina looked down on him again with surprise until Rogers slipped once again into unconsciousness and she tightened her grip over his hand in effort to comfort him despite him no longer being aware of her presence while he unwillingly slept in the midst of his anguish. She knew that somehow despite having no memory of who she really was, or of who he really was himself, that he had dreamt of their time while they had been trapped in Neverland all those years ago.

From a few feet away, her sister being unaware that she had come back down to check in on them, Zelena spoke up quietly saying, "It appears that your touch the other morning was far more powerful than you realize, Regina. His mind is fighting to remember you."

"You're wrong," the younger sister replied sternly. "I mean, Hook may be in there somewhere, struggling to come back, but it's not because of anything I've done. If all of this that he's suffering now isn't enough to wake him up completely, then one small touch from me is ridiculous."

"You're just afraid to admit that you're still in love with him and that he feels the same way about you too," Zelena responded adamantly, then stood again to leave her sister alone with him once more upon seeing their love for one another rekindled. "When you took his hand that morning, you felt something and he did too. However, it terrified him because he was trapped under Gothel's spell over him. He still is, but at least he can resist her easier because now he knows what she really is. A villain. Even if he still doesn't know the whole truth about her being a witch. You heard him just now, Regina. Since your touch, he's been dreaming of you in between all of the nightmares that have plagued him. True love is far more powerful than most of us can comprehend. A small part of Hook has come out. Perhaps in time, he will come to remember who he truly is and who you really are to him. Even without this curse being broken."


	23. Chapter 23

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Twenty-Three

Once more in the New Enchanted Forest…

Alice carefully made her way down the slope that led to the river where her father found a place to sit on a large rock, then began to remove his boots and leather coat in order to cool himself down. Despite Regina having healed him, he couldn't stop feeling warm from a fever that no longer plagued his body as it did while they were still in Neverland. The truth was, he was weary and disheartened from their journey to that dark island Hook hoped never to return to again, especially because doing so had all been for nothing.

However, when he heard a soft voice he knew so well despite being unable to hear it often because of the poison that weighed heavily over his heart, Hook weakly stood again and turned around to find his daughter sitting up on a low branch from a tree nearby as she called out to him quietly saying, "Hello again, Papa."

He smiled at her sadly and choked back a sob as he responded, "Alice… You have no idea how good it is to see your face and to hear your voice again."

"I was worried for you after you left," she continued worryingly when she sensed his despair. "And now… Papa, I'm so sorry. I never should have come here to ask you to go. I didn't think about how dangerous Neverland really was for you. All I wanted… was for us to be…"

"Together again," Killian whispered before his daughter could finish. "Believe me, I wish for nothing more. I take it you heard then?"

The young woman nodded, then answered, "I was standing outside of the tent when all of you were discussing what happened. That witch who haunts you, she was there too? Why does she hate you so much? Why did she do this to us? Please… please tell me the truth. I know you're keeping it from me because you want to protect me, but I don't care how painful it is for me. You shouldn't have to keep this burden to yourself, Papa."

Hook let out a long sigh and then finally replied, "You remember the stories I used to tell you, about the villain I used to be until you came along and softened my heart?"

"Of course I remember them," Alice responded sadly. "They're a part of what helps to keep me fighting to be with you again. The good and the bad. I hear your voice in my head telling them to me whenever I think of them. Is this witch someone from your pirating days?"

The evening before Alice was born…

 _"_ _That was a hell of a night, love," Captain Hook stated proudly as he stood up from the bed where he had made love with Rapunzel, the beautiful woman standing at the window of the tower as she looked out of it, whom he believed to be innocent, then returned his cutlass to his scabbard once again at his side now that he was dressed again and finally walked over to stand behind her._

 _She smiled smugly and then turned around to face the pirate while she answered, "Yes, it was._ _Can't quite remember another like it."_

 _As he leaned in close to kiss her once again, he whispered, "Aye."_

 _"_ _What the hell was that?" he then asked strangely when he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a baby crying from within the back of the room and turned to look for the source._

 _"_ _That little cry…" she began as the baby cried even louder, then reached up to caress Hook's left cheek before she walked away from him to move over to the child's bassinette. "…is the sound of my freedom."_

 _Hook followed after her while he asked again more curtly, "Where did you get a baby from?"_

 _Rapunzel leaned down to pick up the baby as she replied, "The usual place. Like you said, it was quite a night."_

 _"_ _No, no, no, no, no," he uttered in disbelief of what she was trying to tell him. "That can't be. It's not possible."_

 _"_ _Not if there's magic involved," she responded coldly, and then suddenly transformed into her true self to reveal to him what she really was._

 _Killian stared at her in shock at first until he quickly pulled his sword from its scabbard again to defend himself should she attack, then spoke again saying, "You… you're the witch."_

 _She looked down at the child no longer crying while in her arms and then looked back at him again as she answered cruelly, "I prefer Gothel. I have to say, I had no idea getting what I needed was going to be that enjoyable."_

 _"_ _If you're the witch who guards the tower, then where's Rapunzel?" he questioned while continuing to hold his blade out._

 _"_ _Oh, that's a tragic tale," Gothel replied coldly when she finally laid their baby back down within her bassinette again. "I built the tower to imprison Rapunzel. But she managed to turn the tables and trapped me instead."_

 _Hook glared at her darkly while he finally lowered the cutlass and responded, "That's why you needed the flower."_

 _The witch walked up to him again and began to seduce him, reaching up to caress his face once more as she retorted, "Not the flower, but you. The flower imprisoned me, which means it couldn't free me."_

 _"_ _The only way I can escape this prison is by leaving someone in my bloodline to take my place," she continued when Killian resisted her advances by turning his head away from her and returned to the tower's window, then raised her hand to test the magical barrier keeping her trapped inside until it suddenly vanished, indicating she was finally free at last as she gasped with relief and exhaled sharply._

 _"_ _That's where you came in," Gothel added when she turned around again to look at her lover once more. "The power from the petal just sped up the process. But don't worry. I left you a petal. It's small, but there's more than enough magic for what you need. Shall we?"_

 _When she indicated she wished for him to leave with her from the tower, Killian asked angrily, "So, you're just gonna leave and abandon this baby here?"_

 _The witch rolled her eyes when he suddenly became noble and then said, "Oh, don't look at me like that."_

 _"_ _You're a pirate on a quest for revenge," Gothel continued as she walked up to him again and roamed her hand over his chest to try to allure him to follow her while he struggled to keep on resisting her. "I'm sure more than one innocent person has paid the price on that little journey. What do you say I come with you and help you get your revenge, and then you come with me and help me get mine?"_

 _"_ _You got what you needed…" Hook answered with finality as he suddenly pulled her hand away. "…and so did I. Let's leave it at that, shall we?"_

 _She stared at him darkly while she stated, "Suit yourself… love."_

 _Gothel sauntered back to the window, then climbed up onto its threshold after she glanced back at him and added cruelly, "And don't brood for too long."_

Back in the present, as Killian broke from his thoughts…

"Aye," her father answered remorsefully, while he fought to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. "I met her… on the evening before you were born within that tower you were trapped in for all those lonely years. The very evening you were conceived. Alice… I'm afraid that this witch who has done this… She's your mother. She deceived me when we met just that night. I came to that tower in search of a golden flower for the Evil Queen… the villainess from the Wish Realm where I'm from. Not Regina. She promised me she could help me get my revenge on the crocodile, on the Rumplestiltskin also from my realm, if I just helped her by getting the golden flower for her. I was told it contained magic so powerful, it could give us both what we wanted. I found it, thanks to a woman I believed was trapped in that tower before you were. I believed she was innocent. However, she turned out to be a witch who called herself Mother Gothel, only I learned too late. She had used the golden flower to help her to conceive a child in a single night as we… made love, so she would finally be free to escape her prison. Only someone of her bloodline could do that for her by taking her place there. Gothel believed my heart was black enough that I would abandon you and leave you to die so I could have my revenge, but she was wrong. And because I refused to be with her, she punished me by returning years later to poison my heart so we could never be together again. You don't remember her burning that brand on your wrist because she used her magic to render you unconscious before you ever saw her. I could only tell you a witch had done this to us and that your mother abandoned us long ago. I never could tell you the rest… not because I knew how much the truth would hurt you, but because I was ashamed. Ashamed of what I had done. You were my only saving grace and I wanted so badly to be the father you deserved. Only I've failed at that too. I'm so sorry I couldn't tell you all of this before, Alice. I'm sorry for everything."

"It's all right, Papa," Alice replied sadly, wanting so badly to rush into her father's arms to hold him and to comfort him, only to remember she couldn't, so she wiped away her own tears while she continued to comfort him the best she could without going near him. "You didn't fail me. You've been here for me all along even though we haven't been able to be together. You stayed with me for as long as you could and lived an even lonelier life than I have. But then you found your other self, and Emma. And Regina and Henry. They gave you hope and maybe this journey to Neverland turned out badly, but you haven't failed me because you haven't given up yet. I believe you will find a way so we can be together again. You just have to believe it too."

It was then that Regina appeared from the darkness of the night as she walked down from the hill while she responded, "She's right you know. One day, we will defeat Gothel by curing the poison over your heart. Seeing you two together again will be the beginning of her downfall."

Alice smiled at the Queen in gratitude for her assurance, then spoke again saying, "I'm afraid it's time for me to go. Will you keep on looking after him for me, Regina?"

"You know I will," she answered sincerely, while she moved in closer to stand beside him as they watched Alice start to run off until she stopped again to look back at her father.

"I love you, Papa," she called out to him. "Please don't ever forget."

He smiled sadly as she finally continued on, then he whispered, "I won't. What do I do now, Regina?"

Regina turned to him and replied, "We keep looking. We will find a way, Hook. You just have to have hope."

When a wave of dizziness suddenly washed over Hook as he swayed on his feet, Regina reached out to catch him so he wouldn't collapse and guided him back over to the rock where he had been sitting before Alice appeared to him, then helped him to sit down again. Without another word between for the next several minutes, she once again took his hand in her own and looked up into his eyes, while he looked down into hers. Words weren't necessary in that moment, as a love between Captain Hook and the former Evil Queen was kindled.


	24. Chapter 24

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Twenty-Four

"I'm sorry… I'm not sure why I'm still feeling so weak even after you've healed my wounds and my fever," Hook finally said quietly when he was the first to break the passionate silence that had fallen over them and pulled away from the woman kneeling in front of him, as the love they suddenly felt for one another seemed foreign for them both. "I can't seem to shake whatever's happened to me. The strange thing is, I think it started even before we ever went to Neverland."

"You're right about that," Regina replied, then moved to sit down beside him. "It's because you're just exhausted, both physically and emotionally because of all the pain you've suffered these last couple of days. I'm really sorry that things didn't work out like we hoped it would. But it was very brave of you to tell your daughter the truth about why Gothel has done this to you both. I wasn't eavesdropping. Or at least I wasn't really trying to. I promise, all I heard was the last bit of your confession to her when I came down here to find you. I wanted to make sure you were alright."

He smiled sadly and whispered, "It's okay. I don't mind that you heard. But you're wrong about me being brave. I should have told her about Gothel being her mother years ago when I could still hold her to comfort her. I wanted to. But I was too much of a coward. I was weak because I didn't want her to hate me too. She already hated the woman she could only imagine was her mother because I hadn't told Alice about her. Tonight was too late and now she's out there all alone."

The Queen shook her head as she responded, "She isn't alone, Hook. Henry will have gone off by now to go after her, in order to make sure she's alright. And Alice knows you think of her often, so she never forgets how much you truly love her. I came down here to be with you and you're hardly a coward. You were only trying to protect your daughter from the pain of what this truth has made her feel. She doesn't blame you for your actions back then, because she's sees that you're not that man anymore. Just as me and Henry see so too. You made a very difficult choice to give up everything you had in the world. Not just your revenge, but also your ship, your crew and friends… your entire life as a pirate after two hundred years, just to be there for Alice. And from the look I saw in Alice's eyes before she left just now, your sacrifices mean everything to her. She loves you, Hook. More than you know. Believe me, I've seen that same look in Henry's eyes many times, especially in the days that were the darkest for me. When I was still the Evil Queen."

Before either one of them could understand the feelings that swept over them in that moment, Killian surprised Regina when he gently reached up to touch her face and then leaned in as he began to kiss her. She continued to kiss him back until she suddenly pushed the pirate captain back much to his surprise.

"I'm sorry," she stated fearfully upon seeing a brief hint of sadness in Hook's eyes after she did so.

"No, I'm the one who's sorry," he answered gently without looking back into her eyes again. "I don't know what came over me. I just… I thought you might have felt it too, but…"

The Queen shook her head and interrupted him saying, "I did feel it. I'm not sure how you and I have come to become so… I mean, you're Captain Hook and I'm the Evil Queen. Not that we don't deserve to find love again because we were once villains. But… falling in love with me is a bad idea, Hook. I've been in love twice in my life, with Daniel and Robin. And they're both gone now. Because of me."

Hook began to caress her cheek again while he steadfastly replied, "You're wrong about that, Regina. Daniel was killed because your mother made a choice to hurt you. And Robin died protecting you from Hades' wrath. They died because of other villains' cruel actions, not because you didn't deserve their love. We've become the heroes we are now because we both decided not to allow fate, or destiny determine what becomes of us. If you think I'm afraid that someone will come along to try to destroy what I feel for you now by threatening my life, you're wrong. I want whatever this is, be it love or something else… to work out between us. I'm willing to risk everything, as I've always done for Alice too. Please don't allow your fear to get in the way. You deserve to be happy in every way."

"Then… I suppose I'm willing to risk everything too," Regina responded happily, as she used the back of her hand to wipe away the joyful tears that began to slip from the corners of her eyes, then laughed before they finally continued to kiss one another again and again.

Henry and Ella were happily married, while Killian Jones of the Wish Realm and Regina were together and happily in love for six months, until one dark night when Gothel suddenly appeared before the former Evil Queen as Regina was sitting alone within the same spot where their love first began, waiting for Hook to join her when he returned from a scouting expedition with Henry.

"Gothel… I should have known you'd make an appearance at some point," she said coldly as she rose from the rock and stood before the witch head on. "I'm guessing word about Hook and me being together all this time has finally reached your ears."

The evil woman glared at Regina until she stood taller and answered snidely, "It isn't as though you've been making much effort to keep your love a secret. Not even from me. Which was a mistake. You really should have known that this relationship was doomed to fail. Whether Hook knows it or not, his love is mine for the taking. It's just as I've tried to tell him. Like I've told you back when we were in Neverland. You will only wind up with your hearts broken. But how that happens now is up to you. I'm about to give you a choice. Tell Hook that you don't believe this relationship of yours is working out anymore. Break his heart, or I will take him now and none of you will ever see him again. He'll wind up a slave again like most of his former life before he ever became the pirate he is now. Only he'll be a slave to me. For me to do with him as I please. And I will break him until he's mine of his own free will, whether he's happy about it or not. Are you willing to allow him to suffer just because you're too selfish to let him go?"

Regina summoned her magic from within her as she suddenly forced the witch back hard against the large tree behind her, then she shouted, "You don't have the power to decide our fates! You seem to remember Neverland so fondly… I told you then that we would protect him from you. We have so far, and we won't allow you to get near him enough to take him from us. I won't break his heart because of fear."

"You may not be afraid enough about losing him, but how do you think he would feel if his daughter was suddenly found dead in this river?" Gothel then asked cruelly, as she slowly rose back to her feet from where she fell against the ground. "How do you think Hook would continue to feel about you if he were to learn that you had a chance to save Alice's life, but refused because you loved him too much to let him go?"

"You wouldn't kill your own daughter?" Regina questioned, knowing in her heart that this witch had no love for Alice because she had already made the decision to let her die once the morning she had been born until Hook stepped in to care for her.

The evil woman spoke up again coldly saying, "You already know deep down that I would. You may be able to protect Hook while he's within the protection of your rebellion, but Alice is living out there, within these woods all alone and she's a much easier target to kill. Make your choice, Regina. Break Hook's heart, or look for his daughter's body come morning."

At last, Gothel vanished again without her usual theatrics of calling down the thunder and lightning, just in time as Hook returned, then came rushing down the hill to greet the woman he was in love with, with a long deep kiss which Regina cherished because she knew what she had to do next, and that it was going to break the heart of the man she loved as well her own like Gothel wanted.

He was the first to break away from their passion when he pulled his head back and looked deep into Regina's eyes as he smiled, then stated, "You're looking as radiant as ever tonight, love. How are you?"

"I'm fine," she replied shortly, choking back a sob that threatened to come out as she struggled with finding the right words to say to him without hurting him too deeply. "How did the scouting go? Have Lady Tremaine's soldiers moved on yet?"

"They have," the pirate responded, then he noticed the sadness in her eyes. "Is everything all right? Has something happened?"

Regina shook her head despondently and then answered, "No… I promise, everything's fine here. But Hook, there's something we have to talk about. I'm just not sure what I can say that will make what I have to tell you any easier."

He looked at her strangely while he took a few steps back and replied, "You can tell me anything, Regina. Whatever it is…"

"We can't be together any longer, Killian," the Queen abruptly responded more brusque than she intended and her own heart broke upon seeing the despair appear in his eyes as she spoke. "I don't… This doesn't mean I don't love you any longer. Because I do. So much."

"Then why?" Killian asked sadly. "If I've done something wrong, I'm sorry. I've made many mistakes in my long lifetime, but I know that you were never one of those mistakes. You and Alice are the best things that have ever happened to me."

Regina let out a sigh and then continued, "And you're one of the best things in my life too. You haven't done anything wrong. But the truth is… I've realized that I've been acting selfish by holding onto you for so long. I've distracted you from what's most important and that's your daughter."

Hook said again, "I don't understand. You and I have been looking for a way to cure the poison over my heart together all this time. You haven't distracted me from her. And she cares about you as much as I do. Has something frightened you into saying these things? Has someone threatened you if you refuse to hurt me?"

"I need you to trust me when I say… that everything will be better for both you and Alice if we're no longer together," she answered curtly and then ran away from him as she suddenly began to break down, in order to keep him from seeing her cry.

"Regina… wait!" Killian cried out to her as she did so, then collapsed onto the rock at his feet as he struggled to understand what happened to them.

The next morning…

Neither Hook, nor Regina slept that night as they both tried to understand what had come between them. For the next several hours, she did everything she could to avoid him as they both went about the rebellion's business. Henry had noticed the strain had fallen over them, yet Killian couldn't explain much and his mother refused to, knowing that her son would tell her that she was being foolish to give up on another chance at true love.

However, as Regina walked back down to the river to fill up a number of canteens for a group of the rebels who were about to head out on another mission, Hook suddenly appeared behind her and spun her around in order to kiss her again. Regina knew she should have pushed him away, but her heart made it impossible for her to do so until he was the one who finally pulled back.

He then looked into her eyes as he whispered, "Forgive me. I just had to kiss you one last time if you're certain we can't be together any longer. I want you to know, Regina… that I respect your decision and if you think I hate you, you're mistaken. I could never hate you. But I hope we can at least remain close friends. Come what may."

She closed her eyes until she opened them again a few moments later to find herself looking deeply into his while she sincerely replied, "Come what may then. I will always love you, Killian. And maybe one day we can be together again. But it can only be when this war against these villains we're fighting is finally over. You have no idea how grateful I am that you understand."

"I wasn't sure I did at first," Killian responded gently. "That is… until I remembered Henry telling me how hard my other self had to fight for Emma's love as he broke down her walls one by one, and that he never fully gave up hope they could be together someday. And they are. I won't give up on us, Regina. I love you. Please, don't give up us."

"I won't," Regina answered, then watched the man she was in love with as much as he loved her walk away to join those about to go out to find an old friend they had heard had been taken prisoner by Lady Tremaine and her army. "I promise you I won't."


	25. Chapter 25

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Twenty-Five

Back in Hyperion Heights…

Regina slowly rose from where she was sitting beside the man she loved, yet without looking back at her sister, she spoke to Zelena as she asked sadly, "So… was there another reason why you came down here, Zel… Kelly? Or was it just so you could pry more into my personal life?"

Zelena looked towards the stairwell to make sure Henry or Tilly weren't nearby upon hearing her sister nearly slip on her name, then she answered, "Actually, I did come down here to tell you that Weaver has asked me to come get you, so you can help him with his plan. I believe he's just called up that witch. But if you need some more time with Rogers…"

"No… no, it's all right," the younger woman responded quietly, then quickly looked down at Rogers again and gently ran her fingers through his hair for a moment before finally walking away from him to follow Zelena upstairs. "Did he say what the plan was?"

"Nope," her sister replied. "Only that he needed your help. Yours… and Tilly's."

Five minutes ago within the main room of Roni's bar…

After he had taken some time to come up with a way to try to defeat the witches and to save his partner, Gold looked between Henry and Tilly who were both sitting together in the booth closest to the bar in the back as they worried about their friend while they waited for any word on a change in his condition.

As he stared instinctively at the teenager within the room, an idea finally came to him and Weaver finally turned to Zelena as he called out, "Kelly… would you mind going down to get your sister. I've got a plan and I'm going to be needing her help, as well as Tilly's here."

The young woman stared at him strangely as she questioned, "You need my help? Are you certain?"

"You said you wanted to help me save him?" the senior detective answered, as he pulled his cell phone out from his pocket, then quickly dialed the number that had shown up on the screen when Eloise had called him earlier with the address where they had found Rogers. "The time's come."

"I'll go get Roni then," Kelly stated, just as the phone line on the other end picked up and Weaver had begun to speak with their enemy.

Gothel wasn't surprised to receive the call from the Dark One as she asked, "Well… what took you so long to make this call? I would have thought you'd have called much sooner. Tell me… how is your partner feeling? It can't be good, I'd imagine."

Weaver turned away from the others still in the room with him and spoke quietly enough so they couldn't hear him as he responded, "You obviously know as well as Regina and I do what the effects of dreamshade are. But I haven't called to banter with you. I would like to set up a meet. A place to exchange what it is you want, for what we want."

"The cure for the dreamshade that's killing Detective Rogers… in exchange for Victoria and Ivy, as well as whatever information you can get your hands on to help us to find our sisters," the witch replied smugly. "You've clearly become desperate if you're willing to make such a deal. But can you really live with yourself knowing that you're condemning the Belfrey women to death even if it is to save Rogers' life? I mean… if you were still the Dark One you used to be, then I know you would have no problem. But heroes like Rogers, Her Majesty, and your lovely wife have made you soft and weak. So… can you really make such a trade?"

"To save the life of a good and innocent man… absolutely," Gold answered darkly. "I don't believe anyone here in Hyperion Heights would mourn the loss of either of the Belfrey women once they're dead at your hands. If I must get mine a little dirty in order to save my partner's life, so be it. When and where would you like to meet?"

The witch pretending to be Eloise Gardener responded snidely, "I'll have one of my men text you the time and place. But just so you know, you're going to have to wait just a little awhile longer. The dreamshade won't kill Rogers too quickly, especially since I'm certain that you're all doing your best to keep him from putting too much strain on his body… that is if he's even been awake at all. Besides, you need the time to put together the files on our sisters. Don't disappoint me, Weaver. Or Rogers will pay for it."

"I know the stakes," he replied crossly, then hung up on her and turned around only to find Regina, Zelena, Henry, and Tilly all standing behind him, and from the dark look on their faces he could tell that they had overheard more of his conversation than he intended for them to.

"You can't be seriously be thinking about handing both Ivy and Victoria over to Eloise so they can be killed?" Henry then said angrily as he glared at the detective in front of him. "I don't… I don't understand. Why would they want to kill them anyways?"

The detective looked between his grandson and the teenager, neither of whom knew who they really were, as he answered, "I'm afraid that what's going on here, is beyond what either of you can really comprehend right now, but know that what you might have heard just now, isn't what it seems. I assure you. I am only doing whatever I can to save my partner's life."

Henry looked over at Roni and Kelly, both of whom looked at each other as they struggled to come up with a better answer he and Tilly might understand, until he turned back to Weaver again and responded, "That's not really good enough for me. Please… try to help me to understand what's going on. I care about Rogers too, but if saving him means letting two other women die, even if one of them is corrupt like Victoria is… I just can't believe you would seriously consider giving them over to people… who would want to kill them. Besides, Ivy is my friend."

"All right," Gold finally relented, after taking a moment to think. "You're going to think I'm crazy, but you should know that there are people in this world, who believe in the occult and practice witchcraft. For whatever reason they do it for. I don't know about that, nor do I really care. I only care about bringing them to justice should they be responsible for hurting anyone for the sake of their beliefs. My point is… Rogers and I have very recently come to believe that Eloise Gardener, as well as a few others including the two women on the hospital surveillance footage whom Rogers has been framed for supposedly kidnapping, have formed a coven for the sake of the occult. Sadly, we learned this too late and before we could do anything to stop them…"

"Rogers was framed and then kidnapped himself," Regina continued for her old friend in an effort to help and defend him. "In case you don't already know this, these so called witches along with a few of their followers and 'protectors', tried to kidnap both Victoria and Ivy once earlier today. Rogers saved them, which is how he wound up getting taken himself. Weaver brought them into custody for their own protection."

Tilly spoke up in disbelief saying, "This is all… crazy. And I thought I was messed up when I'm off of my medication. But witchcraft?"

Gold looked at her and nodded as he replied, "The truth that there are people who believe in the occult and practice witchcraft is crazy and very difficult to believe. But nevertheless… it's true. Rogers saw it for himself firsthand according to Victoria and Ivy, and I'm certain he would confirm it if he could. All that's happened to him… all that I had had mentioned he suffered while in these witches' hands, I believe was partly because of Eloise's practice. They believe in it no matter how ridiculous we may find it to be. However, if we have any hope in saving Rogers now, then I ask that you trust me. I don't intend to allow anything to happen to Victoria, or to Ivy Belfrey."

Henry looked over at Roni with worry until she simply nodded and smiled at him as if to assure her son that he could trust the senior detective. The young man also glanced over at Kelly as well, who did as her sister did in order to confirm her assurance that Weaver was being sincere.

"This is insane, but all right… I trust you," he finally stated when he turned back to face the older detective again.

"And so do I," Tilly added confidently, anxious to help the man she owed for helping her when she needed it. "Tell me what you need me to do, Weaver."

After sundown the next day, back outside of the burned down subway tunnel…

Gold and Regina arrived at the allotted time Gothel set for them to meet, much to the heroes' worries that their friend wouldn't be able to hold out another twenty-four hours as Rogers continued to suffer painfully from the effects of the dreamshade still coursing through his body. Both Zelena and Henry remained behind at the bar to care for him while the others were doing what they needed to do to save him.

When they got out of Weaver's car they drove to the tunnel in, then pulled both Victoria and Ivy from the back seat with the women's arms cuffed behind their backs, they saw that Eloise was standing there along with her two sisters already found, as well as their three bodyguards, just in case the detective attempted something foolish such as arresting them. The witches smiled cruelly at them as they approached.

The leader of the coven was the first to talk as she said darkly, "I didn't actually think you would bring them. I am impressed, detective. Surprised a little, but impressed. You really do care about your partner more than I thought you did."

Both Weaver and Roni glared at the women before them as the senior detective answered, "Let's cut the chit chat down to a minimum and get on with why we're all here. You wanted the Belfrey women here, as well as the files I collected on the women you believe are your sisters within this witch coven you're attempting to reform. Do you have what we've come for, Eloise? I want to see it first. Just so I know you actually have it."

"The antidote for the poison that's killing your partner," Gothel responded as Roni pulled the files from the bag she wore over her shoulders in order to reveal them to the witches and their protectors, while she then pulled out a vial containing a dark liquid from her coat pocket in order to show the heroes that she had brought them what they were seeking as well before replacing it once again until they made the exchange. "I assure you, it's good. Rogers will survive, provided that what's in those files are what I'm looking for."

"First… before we make any exchanges here, tell me… how did you frame him for killing that doctor at the hospital?" Weaver then questioned unexpectedly. "It couldn't have been easy to do. I mean, even one of best computer experts at the station couldn't even detect a flaw in the surveillance footage from the hospital to show that it had been tampered with."

Gothel sighed in frustration as she rolled her eyes, then replied, "That's because Rogers actually did kill him. I may have had to drug him in order to get him to do it, but that was the easy part. All it took was for him to take a few sips of the coffee I gave him when I came into the station the other morning still pretending to be the poor innocent Eloise Gardener. The rest was a bit more difficult, but we managed. Kidnapping Rogers wasn't planned, but it was quite the added pleasure. I told you that I would one day make him mine, Regina. Didn't I? He won't ever be able to get me out of his head now."

The former Queen answered darkly, "You may have raped him and did other unspeakable things to him while you had him, but he's stronger than you think. You underestimate him. And we'll be here to help him get through the pain."

"Gothel… that's enough of this idle chatter," Draya finally whispered after having grown impatient along with their other sister. "Let's finish this and get out of here."

"That's right," Minerva added more curtly, then turned back to those still facing them and called out again to them more demandingly. "Hand the Belfreys over now! Uncuff them and send them over with the information on our sisters. Or I'll smash the antidote and Rogers will die."

She started to move towards Gothel so she could pull the vial from her pocket until all of a sudden, dozens of cops began to surround those they saw were criminals as they flashed the lights of their patrol cars, then called out for the witches and their thugs to raise their hands high in the hand and to get down on their knees. The villains were startled by the sudden invasion as the man recognized to be the security officer from the hospital started to do as they were ordered to do.

However, before he could, Gothel glared angrily at Weaver as she shouted, "We had a deal, Dark One! Our sisters, as well as the other villains here in exchange for the antidote that will be the only thing that will save Rogers' life. You must not care for him as much as you pretend to."

The leader of the witches' coven reached into her pocket so she could smash the vial as Minerva had suggested only to find it was no longer there, and when she turned to Gold and Regina again, it was then that Tilly walked through the crowd from behind Weaver with the small vile in her own hands as she spoke up smugly saying, "You're wrong about that, crazy lady. You must not have seen me just now in all the chaos with all these policemen surrounding you and distracting you with all of their screaming and their lights."

Moments ago…

As soon as the first of the lights from the cop cars and the men began to shout their orders for the criminals to get down, Tilly immediately weaved her way through them while Eloise and the others with her were distracted, then swiftly reached her hand into the leader's pocket where she had seen Eloise pull the vial from earlier when Weaver had encouraged her to reveal where it was, and stole it before quickly disappearing again within the crowds of police before she could be seen by anyone.

Present moment…

"I picked your pocket in order to get the poison's antidote before you could try to smash it," the teenager living on the streets continued while she handed the vial over to Regina, who immediately took it and rushed through the crowd so she could get back to Rogers to save him before the dreamshade stole his life. "Thanks for confessing to trying to kill him."

"She's absolutely right," Weaver then responded after one of the men under him shouted out for the villains to get down again like before when they still remained standing. "And you have also confessed to drugging my partner to get him to kill that doctor in order to frame him for your crime when you broke Diana Levinson here… out of her room at the psych ward. Thanks to you, my partner's name has now been cleared of all wrongdoing."

While her sisters appeared to look as they were preparing to fight against those there to arrest them, Gothel smiled coldly between Gold and Tilly as she replied, "You may have stopped us this time, detective. But I assure you that this is far from over. Especially for your partner. He will be mine once and for all one day and you'll never see him again. Or he will die. Which one is up to you. Tell him that for me, will you? When he's better, of course."

Before the senior detective or the men and women under his command could do anything to stop them, Draya used her power to suddenly summon a heavy cloud of fog to cover everyone in order to make their escape, though those not from the magical worlds couldn't see how what they believed was nothing more than a trick was actually done.

While the three witches were lucky to have gotten away, their protectors weren't as lucky when the officer whom Weaver had trusted back at the precinct with the surveillance footage managed to take down the security officer from the hospital after he shot one of the men who stood in the way of his own escape to try to get away. As for the two Stabbington twins, they were both arrested by a group of officers when they attempted to arrest Eloise until the coven leader roughly shoved her two bodyguards right into the men's arms despite them attempting to protect her, then ran before she could get caught.

After the arrests they could make were made, and the scene was cleared, Weaver turned to Victoria and Ivy Belfrey as he began to uncuff them, while Ivy stated curtly, "I can't believe you trusted that entire plan to your police squad and to this street urchin. We could have been killed."

"But you weren't," Weaver answered smugly. "And while the leaders behind your kidnapping got away, we succeeded in getting the most important thing we came for. The antidote to be able to save Rogers' life. I do believe you were the ones who said you owed him for saving you before."

"We never said that," Victoria retorted coldly. "I never would have agreed to being the bait for a plan as idiotic as this."

Tilly smiled at Weaver and responded, "Just be thankful it worked and that you're not dead."

When she ran off to return to Roni's bar so she could be there after Roni ministered the antidote to their friend, the senior detective smiled at the two women once he finished removing their cuffs and setting them free, then quietly so that none of the other officers could hear him, he replied angrily, "She isn't wrong. Be grateful you're still alive and not once again a human sacrifice. Now get out of here, before I have either of you arrested again for being a part of the hell Rogers has been put through within these last few days. I wouldn't tempt me."


	26. Chapter 26

Bane of His Existence

Chapter Twenty-Six

Back at Roni's bar…

Henry continued to help Kelly to care for their friend, while the younger man kept wiping Rogers' upper body down as his fever raged on. Meanwhile, they hardly spoke more than a few words to one another while they worked. Finally, Zelena reached down to pick up the bowl of soiled water and walked back upstairs to the main room so she could dump it and get more fresh hot water again. While he waited for her to return, Henry turned his eyes down on his friend's prosthetic and realized this was the first time he had ever seen the fake plastic hand Rogers always kept hidden beneath the black glove he wore. It was the first time he'd ever seen anyone wearing a fake hand aside from those he'd seen on television or in movies.

When Henry heard Zelena coming back down, he quickly lowered it back down against the bed again. But as he did so, he accidentally knocked off the blanket that had been covering Rogers' body from the chest down and he quickly reached down to pick it back up in order to drape it back over him, it was then that he suddenly saw the ugly black striations slowly clawing their way up dangerously close to Rogers' heart. He couldn't stop himself from letting out his expression of shock and fear.

"Oh my God…" he uttered worryingly, as Zelena rushed over despite the bowl of clean water in her hands, which spilled over a little as she did so, then set I back down on the floor before quickly pulling the blanket back up over the wounded man's chest. "What the hell kind of poison makes dark striations like that? And he wasn't just beaten… Rogers was stabbed too. He needs to be in a hospital!"

"The knife wound isn't as bad as it might have looked," she whispered in concern, then pulled some clean bandages from her pocket as well in order to change the bloodied ones covering the wound now and began to minister to him again, pulling up the blanket over his stomach just enough so she could. "As for the striations, we were trying to keep you from seeing them. Only the antidote my sister and Weaver have gone to collect… hopefully, can help him now. He's here with us because right now he's among the few people who care for him, and whom we can trust to take care of him. Who knows who else might be helping Eloise and her coven of witches."

The young man nodded in understanding, then asked again, "All right, but what kind of poison does this? I've never seen anything like it."

Zelena let out a quiet sigh and then responded sadly, "From the looks of it… a very deadly kind. Why else would he be so sick? However, these show just how strong Rogers really is. You're right he should be in the hospital, but with Eloise and her friends still out there, we just can't take the risk that they won't try to hurt him again. Weaver said that one of the security officers there was already one of the witch's minions. Anyone else could be too. That… and Rogers doesn't deserve to be arrested like a criminal either. He doesn't need that added pain and humiliation. He's going to be alright, Henry. You'll see. My sister, Weaver, and Tilly will return soon with the antidote very soon now."

"I hope so," he stated worryingly, then together they continued their ministrations like before.

"I do too," she whispered as well.

At last, Regina suddenly came running into her bar when she returned a short time later and ran down the stairs to where her sister and son were sitting with the man she loved, then carefully pulled the vial she had gotten from Tilly out of her pocket in order to examine it before glancing over at Zelena worryingly.

Henry saw the worry in their eyes, then cleared his throat before he spoke up saying, "Is that the antidote? That liquid will cure those ugly striations covering his chest?"

When Regina looked at him strangely, hoping he hadn't have seen them, Zelena replied nervously, "He did see them. It was an accident. You'd better hurry, Roni. He doesn't have much time left."

"Yes… this is the antidote that will save Rogers' life," Roni answered quietly, as she then sat down on the floor next to where Rogers was lying, pulled the stopper from the top end of the small bottle in her hands, then gently caressed his cheek again before she finally lifted the vial to his lips and carefully poured the liquid past them down his throat. "At least I hope so."

At first, nothing seemed to happen for several minutes. Not that any of them really expected him to suddenly jump up off the bed and begin to dance like he was suddenly healed in a second, like he could have been were it not for the curse that kept the heroes trapped in a new land without magic.

However, Regina pulled away the blanket so they could see his chest and observe the striations that spread widely within his bloodstream and they could see that they had slowly begun to diminish at last. Tears of relief fell from Regina's eyes until she struggled to wipe them away with her hand, then Henry bent down to hug her from behind like he had done often before when he remembered she was his mother to comfort her. Tilly and Weaver both finally returned as well in time to see that the antidote had worked as it was meant to, then walked back up the stairs along with Zelena in order to leave Regina and Henry alone with Detective Rogers.

"You really care about him… don't you?" he asked quietly when he came around and sat down on the floor in front of Roni so he could see her better while they spoke. "I don't mean as just a friend anymore. I mean…"

Regina cut him off as she interrupted, "I know what you mean, Henry. And the answer is yes. Somehow, I think I've fallen in love with him. I couldn't admit that before… until now. I think because I didn't really understand that I had. I'm not sure when it happened either. We haven't really been here… I mean, we have really known one another all that long. But I feel like I've known him for years. I don't think I could have ever admitted that were it not for him being hurt and it kills me it took almost losing him to do so."

Henry smiled sadly as he looked over at his friend who had yet to awaken, then responded, "Love is funny how it works. Most people don't seem to fully understand they're in love with someone, until something like this happens. Rogers will be alright now, Roni. For what it's worth, I'm happy for you. I don't doubt he feels the same way about you. Even with all that Eloise has done to him."

"What I wouldn't give if that were true, Henry," she whispered as she looked over into her son's eyes and smiled as well, then turned back to Rogers before finally continuing to minister to him in silence while she used the clean water to wipe away the sweat covering his face and chest.

Three mornings later…

Rogers was finally well again and returned to his apartment without hardly saying much to Roni or to anyone else after he awoke other than to thank them all for helping him through all that he'd suffered within the last week. It wasn't hard for anyone to see he was blaming himself more than even Eloise for what she had put him through, just as it was clear that he wasn't ready to really talk about it with anyone either. And no one pressed him into doing so, except for Weaver when he had to talk with his partner about the crimes for the sake of their case against Eloise Gardener, Maggie Dawson, Diana Levinson, Officer Gabriel Burke, and the Stabbington brothers.

When he finished packing some of his things into a duffle bag after yet another restless sleep and slung it over his back, then left his apartment, Rogers walked into downtown Hyperion Heights since he no longer had his car that he'd been told had been blown up, and walked into Roni's bar at last since he had left there two days before so he could say goodbye. Tilly, his partner, Henry and Kelly were already inside as Roni stood behind the bar as she washed the glasses she hadn't gotten around to cleaning from the night before.

"So… you're certain you have everything you need then?" Weaver asked first as he walked over to his partner, who had told him the night before that he was going to take some time to himself for awhile in order to sort some things out. "One bag?"

Rogers smiled and reached out to shake his hand, then replied, "I've never been one for carrying around too many personal possessions. I never needed much space. I want to thank you again, Weaver. Not just for all you've done to clear my name, but for believing in me enough in the first place to make me your partner. It means a lot that you see me differently than how most everyone else do."

He then looked between Kelly, Tilly, Henry… until his eyes stopped on Roni's while he whispered, "All of you."

"When you do find yourself again, you will always have a place as my partner no matter how long it takes, detective," Gold answered, as Regina finally walked out from behind the bar to stand between her sister and her son. "And I will be sure to let you know what comes next for Eloise and the others as soon as I learn anything myself. They can't hide forever. Although, I suspect they won't want to either."

"Thank you," Rogers said again.

Tilly simply waved her hand at the younger detective when he turned to her and started to thank her as well until she quickly stated, "You don't have to thank me for anything. I didn't do anything you haven't done for me already. I'm just glad you're alright."

Knowing the young woman wouldn't appreciate any words of gratitude even then, he just smiled and nodded his head towards her, then she smiled until she finally ran off, while both Kelly and Henry reached out to pull their friend into a hug, which Rogers tensed up at, yet didn't push them away.

Henry patted Rogers' shoulder and then spoke up saying, "Don't stay away too long. And stay safe. Remember… we have those books to write once we bring down all who's corrupt and that's wrong with this town. But we can't do it without you. We're in this together."

"I'll be back, I promise," the younger detective responded assuredly. "Take care of Lucy and Jacinda. I'm certain that little girl will be just fine. She's strong."

"Thank you… I will," Henry replied, then walked back to the bar along with Zelena and Detective Weaver so that Roni and Rogers could talk more alone.

She was the first one to speak as she asked quietly, "So… you're certain you have to leave then?"

He looked at her sadly as he nodded and then answered, "I'm afraid so. Just for a little while. Until I can try to get my head back on straight. I can't do that here… so long as she's still out there somewhere. Physically I feel fine, but mentally… I'm not so sure. Eloise's betrayal was… quite a shock. She used me in… in unthinkable ways and made me believe that I was the monster. That I am a monster. I may be cleared of any wrongdoing thanks to Weaver, you, Tilly, and the others, but I still killed that doctor even if I was drugged. I can't just return to being a detective again right now and pretend like none of this has happened. Despite all that I went through because of Eloise, I still can't disconnect from the feelings I've felt for her completely as much as I want to. That makes me dangerous. I have to figure out how to fix that, though I have no idea how. I just know I can't risk any more lives, especially any of yours should I fall like that again."

"You won't," Regina responded more emotionally than she intended to allow herself to show in front of him, then pulled him in close in an embrace much to Rogers' surprise. "You won't because whether or not you want us to be, we'll all always be here for you. You're stronger than you think you are, Rogers. You can't give up."

"I ah… I suppose I did tell you about the dreams… I have been having then?" Rogers questioned awkwardly after he gently pulled back from her so he could see into her eyes. "A part of me feared I might have. I'm sorry. I was just… out of my mind because I was so sick."

She looked at him strangely as she asked, "Why are you apologizing for that? I'm grateful you told me. I'm glad that despite all of these nightmares and sleepless nights you've suffered through, that there is at least one good dream that's given you some comfort. I hope it continues. And that you find her. The woman you've been seeing in them."

He finally leaned in close and kissed her on her cheek, then whispered, "Those things I dreamt… they're only a dream. One of the best I've ever had, but a dream nonetheless. I doubt this woman is real. But I want to thank you, Roni. For somehow… saving my life and helping me to see how foolish I've been for becoming so obsessed with a woman who isn't who I thought she was, as Weaver had tried to do too. My obsession almost killed me. Were it not for you… all of you, I know I would have died and I would still be wanted for murder. If there's anything you ever need…"

"I'll know who to ask," Regina quickly replied before he could finish. "I'm just grateful that you're going to be alright. Like Henry said… come back soon. We need you to bring the evils here in Hyperion Heights down. Don't forget, you're a good man."

"I'll try not to," Rogers finally answered and then waved to the others before he finally turned to leave the bar for however long he would be away for, with no more than a single bag on his back.

What no one expected was that the next time they would see him, would be when Rogers came through the door of Roni's bar disheveled and bleeding once again as he suddenly collapsed in front of those inside, including Regina as she immediately rushed out from behind her bar to help him. But that's a story for another time.

For now, Eloise Gardener whose true identity was that a witch who calls herself Mother Gothel, was still out in hiding along with three of her sister witches while they continued to search for the rest of their sisters to complete their coven of eight. However, Gothel still continued to hold onto her own obsession for the man she had yet to destroy.

The End


End file.
